Tizard line on frigates clarified

Press, 1 April 1989, Page 8

Tizard line on frigates clarified

By

BRENDON BURNS

and NZPA

The Minister of Defence, Mr Tizard, has appeared to back away from his personal view that only three Anzac frigates might be needed instead of the four originally proposed.

Mr Tizard had told “The Press” (March 29) that Defence faced some “bloody hard choices” after the $1.4 billion cap on expenditure imposed for the next three years.

Asked for his personal preferences, Mr Tizard had said only three frigates might be needed, as they would be new vessels requiring less maintenance than the four serving Leander-class frigates.

But in an interview on his arrival in Australia for a visit, Mr Tizard blamed a “sub-editor’s heading” for distorting what he had said.

He said he was not embarrassed in the slightest, even though he was due to hold informal talks yesterday with Australia’s Minister of Defence, Mr Kim Beazley. "Beazley and I have long had dealings with the press and if some idiot sub-editor wants to say something that I didn’t, I’m not going to get my knickers in a knot or by bowels in an uproar.” Mr Tizard did not take issue with the story, reporting his interview with “The Press,” only the headline which said “Tizard says three frigates his choice.” NZPA reported that on his arrival in Darwin to represent New Zealand at the opening of a new Australian Air Force base, Mr Tizard said Defence had not had its funds cut. He said Defence was not getting the $1.63 billion it hoped for next

financial year, but the same $1.4 billion it received for the present year. Mr Tizard said this did not represent a cut but a refusal to give Defence a big increases for the next three years, followed by a much slower rate of capital procurement. “What I said was they had to look at several alternatives,” he said, referring to “The Press” interview.

“If they want to get the equipment, they can obtain the money by reshuffling their spending on personnel, on new equipment, on operational activities, or on maintenance.”

“But they can only spend that total — $1.4 billion — in each of the next three years. Now if they want to get a whole lot of capital equipment,

they will have to reduce their personnel in some way or cut the level of their operations or they will have to cut out some of the other capital items they were proposing to get or reduce their maintenance.

“Now some of those present hard choices, and we speculated on what some of the choices involved, but I certainly didn’t say ‘This is what I am going to advocate.’ ”

Mr Tizard’s comments to “The Press” had caused concern among officials at Defence Headquarters in Wellington. Not only had he suggested three frigates instead of four he proposed the Skyhawk fighter fleet could be cut from 22 to 12 aircraft and the number of infantry troops reduced.

The Secretary of Defence, Dr Basil Walker, issued a formal statement in response. It confirmed some extremely difficult spending choices facing Defence, with decisions required within three months, for the start of the new financial year on July 1.

Dr Walker warned that while no option could be ruled out at this stage, it would be “premature” to single out any cut as more likely than any other. He noted Mr Tizard had said his comments to “The Press” suggesting fewer frigates, Skyhawks and troops were tagged as personal preferences.