Tizard attacks ‘lies’ campaign

Press, 13 July 1989, Page 4

Tizard attacks ‘lies’ campaign

PA Wellington The Minister of Defence, Mr Tizard, has criticised those who oppose the Anzac frigate project, accusing them of mounting a scurrilous and sustained campaign of m i s

information and “outright lies.”

He has also questioned why the Council of Trade Unions has taken a critical stand on the project. “I would have thought their first priority would be jobs for the unemployed rather than an ideologically-based objection to a job-creating defence project,” Mr Tizard said.

He told the Stokes Valley Lions Club that too often sections of the peace movement sneered at New Zealand’s defence forces as simply bomb-and-blast types with no interest in anything but expensive and destructive playthings. They belittled suggestions that buying frigates under the Anzac programme would create real and permanent jobs. They argued that the money spent on the fri-

gates should be diverted to employment creation, presumably makework jobs. Mr Tizard said the Safe Air operation in Blenheim proved that defence work could create skills which attracted other work and created permanent jobs.

Safe Air is equipping the Skyhawk fleet with modern navigation and weapons guidance systems.

Mr Tizard said the company had also built up such a reputation for propeller repair and maintenance work that it was winning contracts from

aircraft operators in Canada, Indonesia, Australia, the Marshall Islands, Taiwan and other countries.

The Anzac frigate project would also create jobs, which made the project just that much more attractive, he said. The Engineers’ Union had been hardheaded enough to see through the “fluff” of the anti-frigate lobby and had entered agreements that would result in members being trained in Europe for work on the frigates, thus bringing new work-skills to New Zealand. New Zealand would be entitled to one-third or one-fifth of the value of the project, depending on how many frigates New Zealand bought. This would be spread over the whole of Australian defence procurement, not just work on the frigates, so meat bought from New Zealand companies could make its way into Australian ration packs. It could also mean kitting out Australian defence personnel with New Zea-land-made thermal underwear or wet-weather gear.