'Aust, frigate criteria adopted’

Press, 19 July 1989, Page 9

'Aust, frigate criteria adopted’

By

BRENDON BURNS,

in Wellington Anti-frigate activists claim Australian specifications for Anzac frigates were adopted by New Zealand without any attempt to define its own requirements. The claim, from the No Frigates campaign, was immediately denied by Navy sources, who pointed to differences in the specifications outlined by the two countries. A spokesman for No Frigates, Mr Nicky Hager, said, however, that the

baseline characteristics defined by the New Zealand Cabinet were adopted, largely verbatum, from the Australian specifications. A copy of Australia’s baseline capabilities and characteristics was released yesterday. New Zealand’s requirements are outlined in a Cabinet paper, which sometimes uses exactly the same language as the Australian document. For example, both countries say “a medium calibre gun (i.e. 76mm or

larger)” is required. Mr Hager said the papers revealed the frigate decision-making process was based on a big lie. “The baseline specifications for the frigate project, were set even before New Zealand entered the project, trapping us totally into an Australian project with Australian priorities from the outset.” A Royal New Zealand Navy source said this was rubbish. He said the second characteristic defined amog the 19 New Zealand

requirements did not feature in Australia’s specifications. This called for the vessel to be able to sail without being resupplied for at least 30 days. The Navy source said where Australian specifications matched New Zealand’s, there was little point rewriting the requirement in different language. The Minister of Defence, Mr Tizard, is overseas and could not be reached for comment last evening.