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P 161846Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON
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RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 WELLINGTON 000763 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PACOM FOR FPA, PACFLT FOR FPA, OSD FOR JESSICA POWERS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/16/2022 
TAGS: MARR MASS PGOV PREL NZ US
SUBJECT: NATIONAL PARTY DEFENSE POLICY CONTINUES LABOUR 
COURSE 
 
REF: WELLINGTON 757 
 
WELLINGTON 00000763  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: Classified by DCM David J. Keegan. Reasons E.O. 12958, 1 
.4 (a), (b), (C), and (d). 
 
¶1.    (SBU) Summary. National's recent "discussion paper" on 
foreign policy, trade, and defense, committed the party to 
continue the rebuilding of the New Zealand Defence Force 
(NZDF) initiated by Labour PM Clark. National MP Wayne Mapp 
argued that it was Labour who began its term in 1999 by 
accepting and implementing a new approach proposed by 
National. He endorsed Labour's emphasis on a maritime patrol 
and logistics support role for the Navy and said that the 
abortive F-16 sale of 1999 was an ill-conceived effort to buy 
American friendship. The challenge ahead would be to deepen 
capabilities without substantially expanding the defense 
budget much beyond the current 1.1% of GDP. Approaching 2011, 
the government would confront the need for a new maritime 
patrol aircraft, a possible second multi-role vessel, and 
perhaps a frigate. He agreed that reliability and 
sustainability for all services would be key challenges.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2.    (SBU) National Party Defense spokesman, MP Wayne Mapp, 
told DCM that National's defense policy laid out in its 
recent discussion paper (see Reftel for overview) was the 
product of many years of discussion dating back to a 
Parliamentary Select Committee that National Party MP Derek 
Quigley had chaired in 1999. He noted that many of the 
decisions taken by the Labour Party in 1999 were in fact 
National Party initiatives. Thus it made sense that National 
is now largely endorsing the approach that Labour has pursued 
over the past eight years. After all it is the approach they 
designed 
 
F-16s and Buying Friends 
------------------------ 
 
¶3.    (SBU) The exception was Labour's decision to cancel the 
sale of F-16s, which the then National Government had wanted 
to secure. Mapp explained that only the long time it took for 
the first delivery gave Labour the opening to cancel the 
contract when it came into office. He noted that National 
chose in its last days in office however not to push to 
accelerate lease/purchase arrangement, which would have 
gotten at least a few aircraft to NZ and made the contract 
impossible for the incoming Labour Government to cancel. 
 
¶4.    (SBU) Mapp said that the National Government had been 
considering either a third ANZAC class frigate to improve 
relations with Australia or the F-16 purchase to improve 
relations with the U.S. They decided that the politics of the 
U.S. relationship made the F-16 purchase more important. He 
said he shared, albeit very quietly, Labour's judgment that 
the F-16s did not make operational sense for the NZDF. They 
would simply soak up too much funding. 
 
Labour Policy is Correct 
------------------------ 
 
¶5.    (SBU) Mapp gave credit to the Labour Government for 
following through on the approach that the National 
Government had developed in the 1990's. It emphasized certain 
key competencies: a small expeditionary ground force, with 
both special ops and mil/police expertise; maritime 
surveillance and patrol using both air and sea; and a limited 
transport capability using the MRV and the C-130s. He said 
that a new National Government would continue that mix. 
 
¶6.    (SBU) He added that he was confident that a future 
National government would keep military funding at the 
current 1.1%, perhaps a little more, which would be 
sufficient to continue and even deepen the support for the 
New Zealand Defence Force's current capability mix. Adding a 
combat air would require going up to 1.5% of GDP, which would 
not be politically sustainable. 
 
The Future for the NZDF 
----------------------- 
 
WELLINGTON 00000763  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶7.    (SBU) The challenge would be two-fold. First, before 
2011, NZ would need to decide on the next generation of 
acquisitions. He cited particularly the need to replace the 
current Orion maritime patrol aircraft with the new 
generation of U.S. aircraft, Poseidon, which are also being 
acquired by Australia. The second challenge would be whether 
and where to deepen capabilities. He noted that there could 
be a real value to acquiring a second MRV, a sister ship to 
the Canterbury. A second option would be a third ANZAC class 
frigate. 
 
¶8.    (SBU) Any of these choices would only make sense in 
close coordination with Australia. The Poseidon would most 
effective if its use were coordinated with the Australian 
military The MRV would provide a capability to the combined 
Aus/NZ military, but would not really be appropriate for NZDF 
use alone. The frigate would need to be completely 
interoperable and logistically compatible with Australia. 
 
The Challenge of Sustainability 
------------------------------- 
 
¶9.    (C) DCM noted that the approach Mapp laid out made 
sense and seemed to track very closely with the current 
Labour Government's approach to defense strengthening, which 
we believed had been valuable. The challenge was to ensure 
that it was sustainable. Mapp said that he was confident that 
current levels were sustainable, but 1.5%, even 1.3% would be 
very difficult. DCM also noted that we pay very close 
attention to NZ's efforts to ensure that its forces are 
logistically sustainable. We recognized that the could not 
do everything, but it was important to continue recent 
progress in that area. In addition, intelligence coordination 
and NZ's recent efforts to provide insights to the U.S. were 
highly valued. 
KEEGAN