Editorial: Defence cutbacks need rethinking

Perhaps the Government believes the maintenance of New Zealand's maritime surveillance capability is a necessary form of damage control. Australia and the United States might just tolerate the scrapping of the Air Force's combat wing as the Defence Force is reduced to essentially a boutique Army. Under no circumstances, however, would our two major allies brook the scrapping of the Air Force's Orions. That would amount to the Government renouncing any commitment to regional maritime security, and would place this country totally beyond the pale.

Perhaps, on the other hand, the Government has derived food for thought from a review of New Zealand's maritime surveillance needs. Hopefully, that is the case. The Prime Minister characterises the report as revealing a "pretty thin blue line" in the policing of our fisheries and customs patrols. On that basis, she sees a continued role for the Orions and the need for an expanded Navy. Precisely what that expansion will involve has not been detailed. The Government clearly expects, however, to make a considerable saving when the frigate Canterbury is retired in 2005. That points to some sort of patrol craft filling a role which, ideally, would be occupied by a third Anzac frigate.

It is heartening that the Government, by implication at least, appears now to concede that issues of defence are more complex than it imagined. It chooses still to couch the maintenance of a maritime surveillance capability in terms of fisheries protection. But it surely now also recognises that, as a maritime trading nation, New Zealand must have secure sealanes.

That, of course, involves knowing what is beneath the ocean as well as who is trespassing on the surface. It is a pity, therefore, that the Prime Minister has poured scorn on the need for the Orions to be effective submarine hunters as well as being involved in fisheries protection and customs patrols. Submarines remain the chief threat to the security of sealanes. Certainly, there will be breaches in their detection in the South Pacific if, as intended, the Orions receive only the cheapest possible upgrade. And with good reason, Australia and the US will feel that New Zealand is freeloading.

They may, indeed, be placated somewhat by the retention of the Orions, even if their sting has been drawn. Likewise, they will welcome the apparent discarding of the farcical notion that the Orions could be replaced by modest spotter planes run by a private Australian company. They may also be cheered by the fact that the Government has recognised that two Anzac frigates are insufficient for maritime surveillance requirements. The nature of the Navy's new craft will considerably interest them, however.

The Government cannot contemplate the sort of lightweight patrol craft used by the Navy in the 1970s and 1980s. Once a 200-mile exclusive economic zone was declared in 1977, these Lake-class boats became virtually useless. The frequently rough conditions in the Tasman Sea demand far more robust craft. At the very least, vessels of corvette size or akin to the sophisticated high-endurance cutters employed by the United States Coast Guard would suffice. The correct option, in all likelihood, will be more expensive than the Government envisages. It will be false economy, however, if it is not taken.

Despite the Government's partial about-turn, there is no doubt that the Project Sirius upgrade of the Orions' antiquated radar would have been the best way to ensure that New Zealand could effectively monitor its exclusive zone. Security both on and below the ocean demanded as much. The considerable expertise of the Air Force's Orion pilots in submarine hunting would have been retained. And, importantly, New Zealand would have been pulling its weight in regional security.

Australia, taking note of the increasing unrest in the Indonesian archipelago and the Pacific, has decided to boost defence spending. At precisely the wrong time, the Government has set sail in the opposite direction. That path has been confirmed by its Budgets to 2004. The message inherent in the review of maritime surveillance is reason enough for it to pause and reconsider other planned Defence Force cutbacks. Then New Zealand may not be left with just an Army - and one that relies on other countries for its protection.