Burton defends policies against air marshal's attack

By FRAN O'SULLIVAN assistant editor

Defence Minister Mark Burton has rejected strong criticism of the Government's defence strategies by a former Chief of Defence Force.

In an interview for the Herald's In the National Interest series, Air Marshal Carey Adamson said a focus on peace-keeping was depriving the military of essential training.

He said policy was being decided "on the run" and the overall military capability would start running down if training was not stepped up.

But Mr Burton said he believed peace-keeping deployments had helped to raise experience levels.

Air Marshal Adamson suggested if New Zealand wanted a totally independent foreign policy it would run a totally independent defence force and "at least double the defence vote".

But Mr Burton said: "At the cost of what? Hospitals? Schools? We live in the real world."

Mr Burton was questioned in Parliament this week by National's defence spokesman, Simon Power, on whether the Government would update the public on the extent of NZ's military and security assets "through a white paper or similar document". He responded: "Yes."

His spokeswoman later said the Government would not issue a white paper. Its position had been spelled out in the June 2000 Defence Policy Framework.

"It would not be responsible for us to carry on with our acquisitions if we were going to stop and have a whole new defence review."