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Output Class - Policy advice

Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2001

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Departmental operations (continued)

Statement of objectives and service performance
for the year ended 30 June 2001

Output Class D1 - Policy advice

Description

Under this output class the Minister of Defence will purchase advice on defence policy matters. This includes advice on changes in the strategic environment, defence and security policies, goals and outcomes and strategies for their achievement and the military capabilities required to meet defence policy goals, along with the broad resource implications and the relative merits and risks associated with proposed capability options. Included in this output class is management of international defence relations, including closer defence relations with Australia and the enhancement of regional security through participation in multilateral defence and security forums, and the development of bilateral defence relationships. It also includes: responses to ministerial and parliamentary questions, Official Information Act enquiries and Ombudsman correspondence; and public affairs advice.

Outcome

The outcome of this output class is to contribute by the formulation of effective policies to the protection of New Zealand and its external interests.

Service performance

Target
Delivered
  1. Undertake reviews of different options for achieving the Government's defence policy goals
  • Reviews were completed by 1 December 2000 on Land Forces and Sealift as part of the first phase of the capability reviews outlined in the Government's Defence Policy Framework.
  • As part of the Ministry's participation in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet led review of maritime patrol requirements, a joint Ministry of Defence and New Zealand Defence Force paper was submitted to the review group in December 2000.
  • A review of the Air Combat Force was completed by February 2001 for the Government's May 2001 defence statement.
  • Arrangements commenced for the follow up reviews announced in the May 2001 defence statement, in particular those concerning the Maritime Forces Review, Hydrographic Survey, and Naval Medical Service.
  • Phase 1 and a substantial part of phase 2 of the review of the Special Operations Capability were completed.
  • The review of New Zealand's Pacific defence policy was commenced.
  • A review of Information Operations was substantially completed.
  1. Manage defence relationships with Australia and other regional countries
  • Australia
    Final arrangements were completed for the July 2001 annual meeting of the NZ and Australian Ministers of Defence and the annual meeting of the Australia-New Zealand Consultative Committee (ANZCC) comprising defence principals. Special briefings were provided in Canberra by the Deputy Secretary (Policy & Planning) prior to the release of the May 2001 defence statement. An Australia-New Zealand Defence Co-ordinating Group (comprising senior defence officials) met in Wellington in May 2001.
  • Pacific
    Mutual Assistance Programme (MAP) talks were held with Tonga, Samoa, and Vanuatu.
  • South East Asia
    Bilateral security and defence talks, including Mutual Assistance talks, were held with Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Brunei.
  • North Asia
    Bilateral security and defence talks were held with Japan, Korea and China.
  • High Level Visits
    New Zealand hosted a number of high level visits to New Zealand including:
    • Mr David Lim, the Singapore Minister of State for Defence;
    • UNTAET Head, Mr. De Mello;
    • General Zhang, the Vice-Chair of China's Central Military Commission;
    • Dato' Hashim Meon, the Malaysian Secretary General of Defence;
    • Admiral Blair, the United States Commander in Chief Pacific;
    • Admiral Fargo, the United States Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet.
  • Visits by New Zealand
    There were high level visits by New Zealand Defence Force to North Asia, Hawaii, Thailand, Philippines, US, Singapore and Malaysia.
  • Briefing notes
    A large number of briefing notes were prepared on defence and security matters including for the Prime Minister's visits to East Timor and Australia, visits by the Minister of Defence to Timor, Korea, and Singapore; and New Zealand's engagement in Timor, Solomon Islands, Bougainville, and Fiji.
  1. Participate in the regional multilateral security dialogue
  • ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF):
    • Participated and contributed to one Senior Officials' meeting (SOM) and two Intersessional Group (ISG) meetings.
  • Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA):
    • The Minister of Defence attended the Ministerial meeting in July 2000.
  • Japanese Asia-Pacific Defence Officials' Meeting:
    • New Zealand attended the annual meeting in Tokyo in October 2000.
  1. Host the biennial symposium of military operational research specialists in the Asia-Pacific region
  • The Fifth Asia-Pacific Military Operations Research Symposium was organised and hosted successfully in Wellington in November 2000.
  1. Respond the following Ministerial servicing products:
 
  • Ministerial Correspondence.
    Draft replies to ministerial correspondence will be provided within fourteen working days of receipt by the Ministry
  • 237 Ministerial letters of reply were completed over the reporting year. The flood in Defence House on 11 May meant that 29 ministerial replies were unable to be completed within the required timeframe.
  • Parliamentary questions. Parliamentary questions will be actioned within time frames set by Standing Orders of the House of Representatives
  • 144 Parliamentary Questions have been answered within the required timeframe.
  • Official Information Act requests.
    Official Information Act requests will be actioned within statutory requirements
  • 38 Official Information Act requests were responded to within the required timeframe.
  1. Produce publications in accordance with an agreed programme
  • 11 issues of Defence Update were published.

Financial performance (GST exclusive)
for the year ended 30 June 2001

  30/6/2000 Actual

$000
30/6/2001 Actual

$000
30/6/2001 Main
estimates
$000
30/6/2001 Supp.
estimates
$000
Revenue        
Crown 3,106 3,120 3,120 3,120
Other 28 2 30 -
Total revenue 3,134 3,122 3,150 3,120
Expenditure 2,984 2,946 3,150 3,120
Surplus 150 176 - -

The appropriation (GST inclusive) for this output class was decreased by $33,000 to reflect the loss of revenue from sales of the Defence Quarterly Magazine, which is no longer published.

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