Defence panel, expert to meet

Press, 23 July 1986, Page 10

Defence panel, expert to meet

By

MARTIN FREETH

in Wellington The Government-ap-pointed Defence Review panel will talk with Australia’s leading defence analyst this week before putting the finishing touches to a report for the Prime Minister, Mr Lange. Mr Paul Dibb, the author of a report recommending greater defence

self-sufficiency for Australia, will arrive this evening for a two-day visit to Wellington. The Defence Review panel’s chairman, Mr Frank Corner, said yesterday that completion of the report, dealing mainly with New Zealand public attitudes on defence, had been delayed partly to allow panel members to talk to Mr Dibb. The report was to have

been presented to Mr Lange by the end of June but that has been pushed back to the end of this month. Mr Dibb wrote a “Review of Australia’s Defence Capabilities,” which was tabled in the Australian Parliament last month and has been described as the most significant analysis of that country’s defence needs since World War 11.

In addition to meeting the four-member panel, Mr Dibb will attend a meeting of the Cabinet committee on external relations and security, chaired by Mr Lange, tomorrow. The Defence Review report had also been delayed simply because the panel had not finished it last month, Mr Corner said. That was because of the

many submissions received and the different views held by panel members, Mr Corner said. The other members of the panel include a retired Chief of the General Staff, Major-General Brian Poananga; a lecturer in sociology at the University of Canterbury, Dr Kevin elements; and a scientist in the D.5.1.R., Ms Diane Hunt.