Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Defence report outlines changing nature of Pacific threats, DHBs unaware of staff vaccination, and visitors desecrate Lake Waikaremoana. The Defence Force has released a report which outlines their views on the most important threats currently facing the Pacific. As Politik reports, it hasn’t necessarily been about singling out … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Cancer sufferers react to govt’s new plan, data shows big increase in land sales for forestry, and a striking warning about NZ’s future of defence. Over the weekend, the government made their major announcement on addressing the cancer treatment model. So with the benefit of a … Read more
A recent issue of Air Force News revealed that a senior NZDF officer served a six-month posting at the Qatar base, placing New Zealanders at the heart of the main targeting and bombing centre in that region, writes Darius Shahtahmasebi Last month the coalition government declared the end of New Zealand Defence Force deployments in … Read more
If coalition MPs are as opposed to troops in Iraq as they say they are, why are they waiting two and a half years to withdraw them, wonders former National government defence minister Wayne Mapp. Yesterday’s announcement that the Iraq deployment would be extended to June 2020 before they are finally withdrawn reflects two realities … Read more
The government has deliberately limited public understanding of Rocket Lab’s US military connections in order to support American security interests, documents show. Before the first rocket took off from Mahia Peninsula on the East Coast two years ago, MPs considered whether they should clarify that New Zealand’s new space industry would be strictly for peaceful … Read more
Its latest mission may be inadvertently exposing New Zealand to the militarisation of space, writes Ollie Neas. Rocket Lab made history on Sunday as its first ever mission for NASA made orbit from the Mahia Peninsula. The mission was the first dedicated launch of miniature satellites, or CubeSats, for NASA by a commercial launch provider. … Read more
Rocket Lab is a celebrated New Zealand success story, with a stated mission to open access to space and improve life on Earth. Yet many of its key contracts are with the US military and their suppliers. Ollie Neas reports on the dark side of a local business hero. Last Friday Rocket Lab announced that … Read more
The purchase of four surveillance planes signals an even closer military alignment with the United States, and the reflects badly on our non-aligned status, writes former Green Party defence spokesperson Keith Locke. It was disappointing to see a Labour-led government agree to spend $2.3 billion on four P8A surveillance planes equipped to detect and fight submarines. Back in … Read more
Monday’s announcement that the government would be spending billions on surveillance planes was in stark contrast to the nurses’ placards, writes Guyon Espiner for RNZ. It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber’ – so goes the … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Defence Force outlines what they say are complex and emerging threats, cochlear implant funding effectively cut, and there’s a public service strike today. The Defence Force is warning about increasingly complex threats, including from Russia and China, in their strategic policy statement released on Friday. Newshub reports that both those … Read more