Quigley review swept aside in Defence plans

Press, 22 August 1989, Page 5

Quigley review swept aside in Defence plans

By

DAVE WILSON

The Government has swept aside recommendations in the Quigley Defence review that 1000 Defence Headquarters jobs should be abolished.

Only 25 people would lose their jobs but more than 300 job positions will be axed through restructuring, the Prime Minister and Defence chiefs were quick to point out yesterday.

The new defence structure, to take effect from October 1, will aim for a total staff of 1193 people.

As interest quickly focused on th enumerical effect of restructuring, the Chief of Defence Staff, Lieutenant-General John Mace, said it was premature to speculate on how many people would ultimately be employed at Defence Headquarters. ' “This is just the first step in a process of refinement,” he said, when details of changes in the Armed Forces’ administration were released yesterday. The Ministry of Defence will be restructured into two organisations —

a small civilian-based Ministry and Headquarters New Zealand Defence Force. The Minister of Defence, Mr Tizard, said the present defence organisation had a ceiling of 1574 posts (671 military and 903 civilians). The two new organisations would carry a staff of 1193. This would be made up of 112 in the “new” Ministry of Defence, 468 in the N.Z.D.F. Headquarters and the balance being single service staffs for the Army, Navy and Air Force. General Mace said the final shape of the headquarters staff was still some distance away. “The single services have not yet examined their establishments. To fasten on only 25 fewer staff is premature. I think there will be more. There is scope for considerable review and I think there

will be some reductioon of staff at New Zealand Defence Force Headquarters.”

Attrition had, by June this year, reduced actual staff numbers at Defence Headquarters to 1218 (493 military and 725 civilians). General Mace said devolution of some military functions to the single service chiefs would carry with it other decisions on staffing and it was too early to say exactly where further staff reductions would come, as opposed to changes of staff location.

“I would be very upset if we are reducing the strength of operational units and retaining more people in our headquarters structure than we really need.” There was scope for introducing efficiencies into the running of the forces, but these were not

as dramatic as envisaged in the Quigley Defence Resource management review, he said. General Mace’s remarks were supported by Mr Tizard, who said the recommendation that headquarters staff be cut from 1490 (the total staff

as at mid 1987) to 320 in the new structure, was impractical, given the functions required of headquarters staff. The Secretary of Defence, Dr Walker, who will head the new Ministry of Defence, said the structure was a more appropriate framework to administer and run New Zealand’s defence forces. He described the restructuring details as the first step in a process that could take up to three years to fully implement. “I beleive in the long term there will be quite significant cost savings and efficiencies,” he said. Dr Walker said the Quigley review should not be regarded as a blueprint for change in the Armed Forces, but rather a menu for decisions to be taken to determine the future shape of the defence structure.