Associate Minister Releases Public Submissions On Defence

Associate Minister of Defence Heather Roy today publicly released the summary of submissions received by the Ministry of Defence during the public consultation phase of the Government's Defence Review 2009 (DR09).

"Last year Defence Minister Dr Wayne Mapp and I launched the public consultation phase of DR09 at Te Papa in Wellington.  Today Wellington is the venue for the release of the final report of that phase of the Defence Review - although it is HMNZS Wellington, the Royal New Zealand Navy's newest ship," Mrs Roy said.

"The public consultation process of DR09 gave New Zealanders the opportunity to have their views on defence and security recorded and taken into account.  More than 600 individual and organisations used that opportunity and made written submissions, and 250 people attended the 16 public meetings organised by the Ministry of Defence throughout the country.

"The key themes that emerged during this process included: a high priority being placed on the defence of New Zealand and its wider interests, greater co-operation with key defence partners, and strengthening of the ANZAC relationship.  This report summarises these, and other, themes identified.

"The Defence Review provided the first opportunity in over a decade for broad-based consultation on long-term Defence policy.  All the information gathered will be considered as part of the Defence Assessment and will inform the preparation of the White Paper to be released later this year," Mrs Roy said.

The report released today can be downloaded from the Ministry of Defence website:
www.defence.govt.nz/reports-publications/review09-summary-submissions/contents.html.

ENDS