Australian Navy men for N.Z.?

Press, 10 June 1977, Page 3

Australian Navy men for N.Z.?

PA Wellington Borrowing Australian naval men for New Zealand was “quite a feasible proposition,” said the Australian Chief of Naval Staff (ViceAdmiral A. M. Synnot) in Wellington yesterday. Admiral Synnot is in New Zealand as part of regular co operation between the two navies.

He said yesterday that he had yet to discuss with New Zealand officials details of exchanging men and was not yet able to say how many men might be involved. “We will be doing our very best to help you out, just as you have helped us in the past,” he said. “This is a sort of two-way trade that can be very beneficial.” He told a press conference that the Australian Navy would do its best to help fill

manpower shortages in the Royal New Zealand Navy,, but one of the problems was! that the staff that New Zealand lacked most tended to be short in Australia as, well.

One of the key problems with naval staff was that

people were trained to a high level of skills, which were in big demand in the civilan world. Asked if there might be problems about Australian naval staff being paid more than the New Zealanders they were working with, Admiral Synnot said that that kind of situation was something naval staff had] lived with for years. He said that even if the Australian Navy moved towards more self-reliance, it would be wanting to keep an operational ability to work with the New Zealand Navy.