Australian Labor Party downgrades NZ defence link

By GREG ANSLEY

CANBERRA - The Australian Labor Party's defence policy for next Saturday's election lists New Zealand at the bottom of its regional priorities.

It drops its advocacy of an Anzac battalion and says Australian forces will do what they can with the truncated Kiwi military.

Although the New Zealand Government's decision to scrap the Air Force's Skyhawks and replace HMNZS Canterbury with a lightly armed patrol ship was greeted with dismay by Labor, there was understanding.

Labor sources said European nations faced similar funding dilemmas requiring defence forces to drop some capabilities.

But they said New Zealand was spending less than it could on defence. They rued the loss of the Skyhawks - regarded as a regional asset and placed on standby during the Timor crisis - and were scathing of Wellington's naval plans.

The sources said that, with only two frigates and a fleet of patrol boats, the New Zealand Navy was effectively a coastguard.

The new Labor policy attaches little emphasis to the Anzac relationship, despite New Zealand's major commitment to Timor and to other Pacific crises.

In a one-paragraph statement it describes Australia's historical and close ties with New Zealand only as the basis of an on-going partnership.

It says a Labor government would promote regular joint exercises with New Zealand, seek to improve the operational capability of potential joint developments and foster the synergies that can be created with our different military capabilities.

nzherald.co.nz/defence