Clark leans towards defence merger

Prime Minister Helen Clark has indicated that merging the Defence Force with the Ministry of Defence could be the best way to end what she described as "fratricide" within the armed forces.

A merger is one of the options that an independent review is to consider.

Helen Clark said yesterday that there had been significant progress through the establishment of the joint force command headquarters at Trentham which had been designed to get the three arms of the forces working more closely.

"In other areas of the state sector we have started to address whether humpty should be put together again ... We now need to take a fresh look at this operation [defence] and see whether it doesn't call for the same treatment," she said at her post-cabinet press conference.

"My rough recollection is that there used to be a Secretary of Defence who was a very powerful figure, and the force and its three arms came in under that.

"Through changes in the late 80s, the ministry was separated."

Defence Minister Mark Burton said last week that an independent adviser would be appointed soon to investigate the structure of the Defence Force.

That decision followed a damning report by Auditor-General David Macdonald.

- NZPA