Category: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A scrutiny week committee at Parliament heard the Defence Force (NZDF) was aiming short term to about double its recruiting capacity to 1500 a year.

The head of Defence says the country needs to be able to add five-fold or even 10-fold to its armed forces and quickly.

A scrutiny week committee at Parliament heard the Defence Force (NZDF) was aiming short term to about double its recruiting capacity to 1500 a year.

Air Marshal Tony Davies said it was also “dusting off the history books” to see what was done in 1938 to quickly boost the ranks.

“We need to be prepared to raise that number significantly higher than that as the situations dictate just as our forbears did around each world war or each major conflict,” he told MPs.

“We need to be able to raise that two-fold, five-fold, 10-fold in a very short space of time.”

However, in the last financial year the forces only recruited 700 personnel against a target of 800.

They had however had cut the average time it took to recruit a person from 300 days to under 200, and were aiming for just 90 days a year from now, head of people Jacinda Funnell said.

It did not help that Defence paid well under the market rate for many roles, the committee was told.

“It’s a tough situation. We are making the best we can,” said Davies.

Attrition was stabilised under seven percent and it was addressing “hollowness and gaps” left by a mass leaving after Covid.

The more volatile international environment had actually helped keep people in the military, seeing as a primary reason for joining was a “sense of purpose”, he added.

The new equipment being bought under the Defence Capability Plan also helped.

‘Spend money and lose it’

On that score, the Secretary of Defence said the military needed to be prepared to spend on new technology and lose.

Brook Barrington told MPs the range of new tech and the speed it was developing at posed big pressures, and would force Defence to change its appetite for risk.

“Potentially in new technology to be prepared to spend money and lose it,” Barrington said.

“And that’s not something in the course of my career I would have said to this committee.”

But the speed and also low cost of some new tech made the “fast fail” a real option. For instance, it might buy an off-the-shelf drone for $5000 and find it was not fit for the military “but it was worth spending the $5000 upfront” to find out, he said.

The trick was to develop the ability to keep up.

Another pressure was the scale and speed of having to virtually replace the entire naval fleet by 2035, as well as transform how the Navy operated, he said.

But its existing capability management system was proven, and it would adopt a new approach of “minimum viable capability”, meaning Defence would trade off the full range of “bells and whistles” if it had to, in order to get a weapon or system two or three years earlier. Scope would be sacrificed for urgency.

‘We are not blind to it’

Space is the number one priority in the defence industry strategy.

Green MP Teanau Tuiono asked if NZDF was at all reliant on Starlink given the unpredictability of its owner Elon Musk.

Davies said it mostly relied on military systems, though did use Starlink with its Bluebottle marine drones in the Pacific on illegal fishing patrols and the like; and if it needed that system to help aid in a disaster in the Pacific, it would do that.

New Zealand’s involvement in three international space programmes was sketched out to the committee – a satellite monitoring system, and two multinational space forums or alliances, one called Operation Olympic Defender, all led by the US – before Barrington laid out some of his thinking about space.

“I know that space is a matter – at least in some parts of the New Zealand public – a matter of concern, you know, the militarisation of space.

“We share that concern. We are not blind to it.”

But the stable door was open and the horses bolting, not least because a lot of space tech was now dual use, civilian and military, he said.

One reason New Zealand had joined the space groups “is to try and work with others and not just Five Eyes but France, Germany, Norway, to reinforce good behaviour in space and to call out bad behaviour”.

“So it’s an area where there should be public debate in my view because none of us round this table, more broadly, want to see the militarisation of space, but it also seems to me that we have to tackle this with a degree of realism,” Barrington went on.

“Where we would like to be is not where we are globally and I don’t think we will ever get back to that, so it’s now a matter of trying to make sure that the future is rather more secure for us than where we currently are.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Airbus A320 fault sparked worldwide delays and airport chaos, and has renewed fears over aviation safety in a turbulent 2025.

The Airbus A320 has long been considered the workhorse of global aviation, reliably taking tens of thousands of passengers to their destinations every week.

So, when a software glitch in the aircraft’s flight-control system, detected in late October, was brought to global attention this week, the shockwaves were immediate.

Within hours, major airlines – including Air New Zealand – grounded sections of their fleets, departure boards flickered with cancelled and delayed alerts, and passengers scrambled for information.

And as they sought answers, their news feeds were interrupted by more aviation breaking news – two planes in Sydney had collided mid-air, killing a pilot.

This follows other major plane crashes this year, including the Air India crash that killed 260; the mid-air collision between an American Eagle plane and military helicopter over the Potomac River, killing 67; the cargo plane crash in Kentucky, when the plane exploded in a massive fireball, killing 14; and the Lanhsa British Aerospace Jetstream which crashed into the sea shortly after taking off in Honduras, killing 12.

Aviation commentator Grant Bradley tells The Detail, it’s been a “bumpy year” for the industry and “looking to Christmas, buckle up and hope for the best”.

“Whenever there’s an air crash, it does give passengers and the industry pause for thought,” says Bradley. “They are always looking for reasons why… but these are completely different accidents, it’s hard to see a trend here.”

He says that while there are no known links between the crashes, the cause of the Airbus A320 software glitch has been revealed.

The problem identified relates to a piece of computing software that calculates the plane’s elevation.

Airbus discovered that, at high altitudes, its data could be corrupted by intense radiation, released periodically by the Sun.

In late October, this led to the incident in which an aircraft suddenly lost altitude over America.

‘You’e got to be unlucky to be in an air crash’

Travel commentator and writer Daniel Lake tells The Detail it would have been terrifying.

“It would have been even scarier if you were in the cockpit because the plane nose-dived without any input from the pilots, so you are sitting there, cruising, normal flight, and suddenly the plane is headed for the ocean, and you’ve touched nothing,” Lake says.

“Luckily, they could regain control and fix things in just a few seconds, but within those few seconds, passengers who weren’t strapped in had hit the ceiling and had been injured… some of those people probably won’t fly again.”

Both he and Bradley say that now that the problem has been fixed, it shouldn’t occur again. And they stress, air travel is still safe.

“As aircraft have become more heavily automated, you’ve seen a corresponding improvement in aviation safety,” Bradley says. “An MIT study last year calculated that the risk of being in a fatal airline crash is between one in 11 million and one in 13 million, and that compares to the risk of being in a car crash of one in 5,000 internationally.

“So, you have got to be pretty unlucky to be in an air crash.”

Lake agrees, saying “there’s been plenty of high-profile crashes and we see them more and more on our screens, but it’s important to remember that flying is by far the safest way to travel.”

Regardless, he says some people will still delay travel.

“I definitely think there are more people who are anxious about flying, so people who are already susceptible to being anxious are even more anxious… and people are asking me ‘is flying safe?’.

He says 2025 may be remembered as the year confidence cracked, not because flying became dramatically less safe, but because the public perception of safety shifted.

Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A smart watch that doubles as an alarm for women at risk of family violence is helping to reduce police callouts.

The social service Help at Hand has provided 1200 of the violence prevention watches to organisations including some womens refuges and data shows it is making a difference.

It looks like any other smart watch but this one comes with a discreet SOS button which silently connects to a monitoring team who can listen to what is happening and if needed, call the police.

SHE Refuge operations manager Amy Roberts said so far they have had one woman in a dangerous situation do just that.

“She lives quite a chaotic life and she was given one of those watches, we never thought she would activate it but she did and police came and removed her from a dangerous situation.”

Since August, the refuge in Christchurch has had 20 watches for both women at risk of family violence and staff members.

“It just gives some people that little bit of control back in their life, in their situation there isn’t a lot of control, [the watch is] making them feel more like they’re less alone and in charge of their own safety.”

Help at Hand finds technology to help reduce domestic violence and is funding the watches.

General manager Gavin Healy said they are fund-raising to provide the watches to all women’s refuges.

“We want to scale them to all the womens refuges nation-wide to de-escalate domestic violence around the country. The big impact is really on the kids.”

Impact Lab looked at the experiences of 303 survivors wearing a watch in the year to April, finding that in the six months they had the watch, there was a 66 percent drop in police callouts and 89 percent fall in violent incidents.

Healy said the team monitoring the watch SOS connections can assess whether a situation is more suited to a social worker or police.

“The woman presses the watch, it then goes through to the call centre, that’s a New Zealand call centre where they’re trained for emergency responses,” he said.

“They’re initially taking notes on what’s happening live, they’re recording the live incident so it might be that it goes through to the police as an emergency initially but there might be other key social workers or key people that need to be contacted.”

In Auckland, Fale Pasifika Womens Refuge has 20 watches – general manager Mary Kalolo said the devices provided a sense of comfort.

“It gives them the sense of protection, just knowing there’s something that’s there for them to use if need be. The perpetrators wouldn’t even recognise it as an SOS watch.”

Kalolo said staff who visit victims of family violence after police have attended also wear the watches.

“Family violence is continually increasing every week, every day, and coming up to the Christmas holiday period it’s the most stressful time.”

Kololo said the refuge will be fully staffed over Christmas.

“It’s a crunch time for us in the Christmas period, can only hope and pray that everyone tries to enjoy the festive season.”

SHE Christchurch supported more than 4000 women and children in the past year and Roberts said that number is increasing.

“It’s pretty rampant out there and it’s only getting worse as the Christmas period gets closer, we haven’t seen any drop in referrals.”

Womens Refuge said the smart watch was just one part of its safety plan for victims of family violence – it also has an alarm system through its Whanau Protect service for those most at risk.

Where to get help:

• Need to Talk? Free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor, for any reason
• Lifeline: 0800 543 354 or text HELP to 4357
• Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO. This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends
• Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757 or text 4202
• Samaritans: 0800 726 666
• Youthline: 0800 376 633 or text 234 or email talk@youthline.co.nz
• What’s Up: 0800 WHATSUP / 0800 9428 787. This is free counselling for 5 to 19-year-olds
• Asian Family Services: 0800 862 342 or text 832. Languages spoken: Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Hindi, and English.
• Rural Support Trust Helpline: 0800 787 254
• Healthline: 0800 611 116
• Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155
• OUTLine: 0800 688 5463
• Aoake te Rā bereaved by suicide service: or call 0800 000 053

If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.

Sexual Violence

Family Violence

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand