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Speaker 1: Back to our defense boost twelve billion over four years baseline,

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Speaker 1: not a ceiling, which was the encouraging part. I guess

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Speaker 1: it will be at least two percent of GDP eventually

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Speaker 1: nine billion of its brand new money to the Defense

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Speaker 1: Minister Judith Collins as well, it's very good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Good morning.

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Speaker 1: Make it felt a bit grown up yesterday. Does it

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Speaker 1: feel that way to you that we might be back

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Speaker 1: in the world and playing our role?

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Speaker 2: Well, yes, it's a good way of putting it. Growing up.

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Speaker 2: Understanding the will is not the way we'd like it

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Speaker 2: to be. We have to deal with what we've got

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Speaker 2: and what we expect might be might it might look

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Speaker 2: like in a few years time.

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Speaker 1: The forces had to be stoked, sorry, the forces had

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Speaker 1: to be giving them opinions of dollars.

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Speaker 2: I am told. I'm told that they are particularly stoked

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Speaker 2: yesterday afternoon, and I'm sure they'll be stoked today too,

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Speaker 2: But it's late. They've had thirty five years, except for

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Speaker 2: that small period when Ron Mark was the minister and

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Speaker 2: he actually got them some really good kit, but they've

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Speaker 2: had thirty five years of being accid.

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Speaker 1: Frankly, and speaking speaking of ron Mark, we had him

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Speaker 1: on the program earlier he was suggesting it to ACT

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Speaker 1: in New Zealand first. That has nudged you towards these

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Speaker 1: sort of announcements, true or not.

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Speaker 2: No, In fact, i'd say that there's something I've been

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Speaker 2: working on, as I'm sure you know, for about the

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Speaker 2: last year or so. But also I am very very

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Speaker 2: grateful for the support that I've had from both ACT

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Speaker 2: and you see them first, as well as my caucus

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Speaker 2: and cabinet colleagues. Understanding that this is big money. We

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Speaker 2: know it has to happen, but it's a coalition deal.

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Speaker 2: I'm very happy with the way that they have backed

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Speaker 2: me up on it.

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Speaker 1: Having watched the press conference yesterday, I know you're not

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Speaker 1: going to talk about the money, but just to just

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Speaker 1: to clear it up for people, because there is some

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Speaker 1: concern around wages and the fact that there are three

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Speaker 1: ships tied up because we've got no people. The wages

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Speaker 1: is a budget announcement which will be made in the

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Speaker 1: budget that is separate to the billions for ships and

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Speaker 1: planes and drones.

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Speaker 2: Friday aware that last year we've got a big increase,

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Speaker 2: particularly for our let's say, not the brass, the people,

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Speaker 2: the ones who are less experienced we got them a

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Speaker 2: big increase and at the moment, the starting so are

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Speaker 2: we going into the military, is about sixty five thousand

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Speaker 2: something like that plus said military, sorry to say, plus

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Speaker 2: accommodation and free medical and all that from their first

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Speaker 2: start as trainees. But are in there they pace up

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Speaker 2: towards accommodation. But they do, however, still get free medical

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Speaker 2: and dental treatment as well as that. So that's not

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Speaker 2: a bad starting salary for someone out of school or

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Speaker 2: out of the university.

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Speaker 1: I would agree on the qualifications thing, which wasn't part

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Speaker 1: of yesterday's announcement but was quietly dropped last year. Apparently

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Speaker 1: you just basically need to have gone to high school

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Speaker 1: for three years and you don't even need level one anymore.

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Speaker 1: Are you taking a risk in terms of talent or

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Speaker 1: are these just people who didn't get along at school

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Speaker 1: and the military might just be the magic for them.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think it's the letter, and there's right marks

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Speaker 2: to be a well that he said, there's probably a moment.

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Speaker 2: Shouldn't really be sharing it, but I'm going to anyway,

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Speaker 2: he said, Oh, under the way, it was a few

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Speaker 2: years ago, he said, even I wouldn't be able to

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Speaker 2: get in there, and he wouldn't be able to get

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Speaker 2: in there. The fact is that we need people who

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Speaker 2: will turn up, who will take orders, will clear enough

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Speaker 2: to understand what things mean, but also have an absolute

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Speaker 2: passion willingness to learn and be part of defense force.

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Speaker 2: So where are not someone's brilliant academically That's not necessarily

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Speaker 2: the first part of court, although that is also helpful.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, once again, budget you won't explain it,

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Speaker 1: but you have the billions, and this is billions we

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Speaker 1: don't have. And I'm a conservative and I worry about

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Speaker 1: spending money we don't have. Will we be reassured come

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Speaker 1: budget Day that it at least makes sense?

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Speaker 2: Yes, I'm very very confident and work at Nichol Willis's

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Speaker 2: Finance minister has done on this and I would say

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Speaker 2: too too, is that in New Zealand Defense has eight

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Speaker 2: hundred suppliers from New Zealand. Even now, the work that's

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Speaker 2: going to be going into our defense industry here, particularly

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Speaker 2: around phrones of a high tech kit which some New

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Speaker 2: Zealand businesses are already supplying the offscore military. We are

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Speaker 2: going to be growing the economy and actually in the

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Speaker 2: high tech way, not in we're not building tanks, but

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Speaker 2: we are going to be building drones.

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Speaker 1: Good exciting times. Appreciate it very much, Defense Minister, due

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Speaker 1: to the Collins with us this morning. For more from

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Speaker 1: the mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks that'd

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