Socred defence policy seen as too costly

Press, 1 September 1982, Page 3

Socred defence policy seen as too costly

Parliamentary reporter

Social Credit's new defence policy of armed neutrality would be unsustainable "without very heavy cuts in other areas of Government spending, said the Minister of Defence, Mr Thomson, yesterday. A background paper considered at the party’s conference in Hamilton last weekend made only “bland and passing” references to the cost of the proposal, he said.

In Switzerland and Sweden, which had policies of armed neutrality, the defence budget was 18.9 per cent and 7.7 per cent, respectively, of Government spending. New Zealand's defence budget in the 1980-81 year absorbed only 4.6 per cent of total Government spending. “Translated into New Zealand terms, this would mean an annual expenditure of $1,868 billion on the Swiss scale and $759 million on the Swedish model. In that same

year New Zealand's defence budget totalled $456 million,” Mr Thomson said. Social Credit's idea of “conscripting” about 50,000 young New Zealanders each 1 year for 12 months service in a defence corps would create a body more than four time the size of the present armed forces. “Nowhere does Social Credit specify how it would house these people, neither does it address itself to.the question of who would provide the supervision and training of the corps,” said Mr Thomson.

Without the support, of Australia and the United States, New Zealand’s forces would be in “very poor shape."

Withdrawal from A.N.Z.U.S. would affect New Zealand’s relationship with Australia. A.N.Z.U.S. symbolised New Zealand's commitment to the Western alliance and its role in the Pacific region.