Indefensible New Zealand

Welcome to the final episode of season 1. This is the third part of our discussion about defending New Zealand against an invading force that is intent on occupying our land. In episode 8, I took a red team view of how New Zealand might be attacked. That was followed in the next two episodes with a long-range defence without the involvement of allies and a discussion about how New Zealand could be made ‘not worth the cost’ of comin...

In the second part of 'Defending New Zealand', I discuss how the country might configure itself to deal with an invading force that has the intention of putting boots on the ground.

This discussion touches on overt kinetic attacks such as missiles, rockets and bombs, digital attack and covert (fifth column or enemy SOF) attacks on military and civil infrastructure.

New Zealand's need for self-relian...

This is the first episode in a series that discusses New Zealand's defence needs and a brief insight into current shortfalls. While acknowledging that the people within the current New Zealand Defence Force are as good or better than those who have gone before, Simon Ewing-Jarvie bluntly points out that, in a war of commitment such as the defence of the country, the NZDF would cease to be a functional fighting force in a matte...

A notional red team of industry experts  (from 'Buranda'),  takes on the challenge of attacking New Zealand with the objective of bringing down the Government and bringing in a system that is more open to its aims and views. No invasion or occupation is involved in this scenario which focuses instead on targetting  the essentials of life and creating division between various sectors of society.

Nothing is out of ...

The focus of this episode is national security posture options for New Zealand. Simon Ewing-Jarvie and Heather Roy discuss four options:
1.  Maintaining armed alignment with traditional allies and partners
2. Seeking new treaties, allies and partners more closely aligned to protecting our current economic interests
3. Adopting a strategy of armed non-alignment
4. Armed neutrality

The hosts discuss the risks...

The host, Simon Ewing-Jarvie, takes a high level pass over several pieces of New Zealand legislation that either need amendment or should be created in order to improve the country's national security legislative framework.

The discussion includes the raising of a National Security Agency and National Security Impact Statements for all new Bills as well as better use of existing legislation - such as S50A of the Defen...

Simon Ewing-Jarvie discusses why it is taking so long to establish a national security agency and strategy, given that the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on Christchurch masjidain on 15 March 2019 recommended exactly this approach in late 2020.

He draws on his work in continuity management and executive behaviour in risky environments to highlight some possible reasons why public sector chief executi...

On the back of the New Zealand Government's Budget 2021, Simon Ewing-Jarvie and Heather Roy discuss how much money is allocated to national security on an 'all agencies' approach rather than the traditional view of defence force funding.

What is apparent is that current financial appropriations are insufficient for building national self-reliance and resilience. The discussion focusses on current gross domes...

In this episode, Heather Roy questions Simon Ewing-Jarvie about what the world might look like in 2050 and what the national security implications for New Zealand are. There's also an interesting lead-in to a subsequent episode on veterans.

It's a quickfire tour of population projections, emerging economic powers, increased conflict involving non-state actors and private security forces. UN peace keeping donor fa...

Heather Roy interviews Simon Ewing-Jarvie about what he thinks the country will look like in 2050 and beyond. This episode traverses Statistics NZ population projections as well as the views of well-known academics such as Professor Paul Spoonley and the late Professor Paul Callaghan. It also discusses likely implications of these and other demographic changes ranging from the Antarctic Treaty to energy generation and distribution,...