UNCLAS Logo

New Zealand's National Security

Simon Ewing-Jarvie: Editor

Menu Skip to content
  • Home
  • Military Fiction by Simon Roberts
  • Centre for Cyber Warfare Research
  • About
  • Contact
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • WordPress.com
Long Term Insights Past Present Future - Source DPMC
21 November, 202112 February, 2022 Simon

Ka roa te ngaromanga, he iti te putanga*

Submission by Dr Simon Ewing-Jarvie on 17 Nov 2021 to NZ’s Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet Public Consultation for the Development of the NATIONAL SECURITY LONG-TERM INSIGHTS BRIEFING 2022.

The call for public submissions related to “Engaging an increasingly diverse Aotearoa New Zealand on national security risks, challenges and opportunities.”

The introduction of long-term insights briefings is commended. However, like any policy or briefing document, political implementation of important findings will be the true measure of whether this initiative produces meaningful change. Consequently, I approach this exercise with cautious optimism mixed with a healthy dose of skepticism.

The elements of New Zealand’s threatscape have been well traversed by me and many others both domestically and internationally. I do not intend to replicate those points but list, at the end of this submission, several links to earlier or ongoing publications of mine that address various problems and solutions. I would note that several recent events (terror acts, Covid-19, natural disasters) have highlighted that the Government’s ‘all hazards – all risks’ mantra is woefully insufficient for the environment New Zealand faces now and in the future.

At the heart of New Zealand’s wicked national security problem is the New Zealand public is naïve and complacent about threats to this country. Not everyone loves Kiwis. We represent many things that significant other groups resent. The Christchurch Mosque shootings were a reminder of that.

The main reason why successive New Zealand governments get away with a sub-optimal (in capability not in terms of the people) approach to national security is that society allows it to happen. That’s because most Kiwis conflate being on the winning side of two world wars with a belief that there won’t be another or, if there is, we’ll have plenty of time to get ready. Politicians know elections aren’t won or lost on national security policies. They might, however, if voters were more engaged on the matter.

There are four areas where public engagement can be improved. These are:

  1. Remembrance – Ka mua, ka muri
  2. Channels – Te whare tapere
  3. Strategy – Naku te rourou nau te rourou ka ora ai te iwi
  4. Legislative Process – Ki te kahore he whakakitenga ka ngaro te iwi

Remembrance – Ka mua, ka muri

Walking forward with one eye on the past is key to engaging the community. Every ANZAC Day, increasing numbers (pre-terror attacks and COVID) attend commemorations. They wear their grandfather’s medals with pride. They solemnly say ‘lest we forget.’ And then for most, they do forget for the next 364 days.

Little is taught in schools about how long it took this country to gear up for two world wars and how many lives were lost because of poor equipment and training. Engagement must include teaching of relevant history. Kei wareware tatou – Lest we forget.

The unity and sustenance of our veteran community is a key link in community awareness of national threats. It is poorly done at present which is evident in the proliferation of private trusts and support groups for veterans and remembrance. As an example, the NZ Remembrance Army finds, cleans, restores and records service graves. Why? Because the government has no idea where our former service people are buried unless they happen to be the few who are in a commonwealth war grave. A NZ War Graves Commission would solve this.

Any future war will generate thousands more veterans and the support mechanisms should be put in place now, not after the event.

Channels – Te whare tapere

Academic papers, reports and documentaries are all well and good but do not reach 99+% of the public and consequently have little effect on societal engagement with national security. It takes only a momentary glance at mainstream media to see that the battle between information and entertainment has ended – information was the loser.

Rather than see this as something to be railed against, it needs to be embraced. Take the people frequently to the house of games. Use the brilliance of NZ film makers to create works which highlight and explain complex national security issues. The Australian film industry does this very well but the last significant work of this nature in NZ was ‘Sleeping Dogs’ in 1977.

Encourage fictional works and harness the equally talented gaming sector to gamify the problems we need the public to engage with. Imagine the power of a computer game that simulated the national electricity grid, our shipping routes, ports and rail, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, food production and storage. The equivalent of ‘SimCity NZ’ could be a powerful tool for future engagement.

Strategy – Naku te rourou nau te rourou ka ora ai te iwi

Engage everyone’s basket of knowledge and create a coherent national security strategy. I realise that this submission is to the very organisation I believe should relinquish the task of advising on national security – the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. But rather than become defensive, I encourage you to look past the status quo. There are many good people in the system but a department that can be influenced directly by party political appointees such as party Chief’s of Staff and Ministerial Advisors is not the place to run national security from.

Create a standalone National Security and Intelligence Agency (an independent crown entity) that would have legislative responsibility for developing and testing an overarching national security strategy. The head of this agency, the National Security Advisor, should be an Officer of Parliament, like the Auditor-General and Ombudsman and be appointed by and responsible to the Parliament, not the government.

Then create a ‘red team.’ Outsiders who are contracted to apply alternative thinking, futures and analysis in order to test and probe plans. I know the departments run these teams in short simulations but a red team drawn from within is ‘captured’ by its own thinking and cultures. It never gets the chance to fully detach from the status quo and is therefore of limited use.

Legislative Process – Ki te kahore he whakakitenga ka ngaro te iwi

A simple change to the law-making process which would have a significant effect on national security engagement is to introduce the requirement for National Security Impact Statements for all new Bills. The National Security and Intelligence Agency would have responsibility for raising these in the same way Treasury does for fiscal impact.

They would have two major impacts. First, any unintended consequences for national security should be identified and remedies proposed. All MPs would be made aware of these through the Bill’s initial documentation. Second, it would provide further opportunity for citizens to engage in the process, particularly at Select Committee, to make submissions relating to national security.

Summary

The hardest thing about instilling a new belief system in people is getting the old one out. You can’t ‘creep’ an idea into people’s consciousness – you have to blast the old idea out. That’s as true of national security as it is in terms of any consumer item you can think of. It needs to start at the top. Demonstrate that you’re serious about everyone playing their part and the people might, just might, start paying attention.

A Selection of Relevant Publications

NEW ZEALAND’S STRUGGLE FOR STRATEGIC IDENTITY 3 November 2021: https://wavellroom.com/2021/11/03/new-zealand-struggle-for-strategic-identity/

PODCAST SERIES: Indefensible New Zealand: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1792541

THE LONG HANDSHAKE – Additional Briefing to the Incoming Minister of Defence 10 November 2020: https://unclas.wordpress.com/2020/11/11/the-long-handshake/

ANOTHER GREAT BUT BROKEN PROMISE – Additional Briefing to the Incoming Minister for Veterans 1 December 2020: https://unclas.wordpress.com/2020/12/01/another-great-but-broken-promise/

MODELLING THE KIWI VETERANSCAPE 16 September 2021: https://unclas.wordpress.com/2021/09/16/modelling-the-kiwi-veteranscape/

DEFENCELESS ELECTION 10 October 2020: https://unclas.wordpress.com/2020/10/16/defenceless-election/

OPTIONS FOR NEW ZEALAND’S NATIONAL SECURITY POSTURE 2 September 2019: https://divergentoptions.org/2019/09/02/options-paper-on-new-zealands-national-security-posture/

WHAT BECOMES OF THE DISENFRANCHISED? 4 April 2019: https://unclas.wordpress.com/2019/05/04/what-becomes-of-the-disenfranchised/

DEFEAT IN DETAIL 19 March 2019: https://unclas.wordpress.com/2019/03/19/defeat-in-detail/

AGAINST THE TIDE 27 September 2018: https://unclas.wordpress.com/2018/09/27/against-the-tide/

The author does wish to be involved in ongoing consultation as this briefing is developed.

*The whakataukī (Māori proverb) in the title literally means “When it is hidden for a long time, it may be small when it comes forth.” This relates to a man who has a great deal to say but who does not put it into action. It is also used of war parties which, when they are small, hesitate to come out to show their strength. I use it in this context as a challenge to the government. Writing the national security long term insights briefing will mean nothing if it is not acted upon. (This paragraph and beyond does not form part of the formal submission)

Blatant Advertising Bit: Have you read my short story trilogy “A Poke in the Fifth Eye”? It’s available in Kindle format for only 99c. A ripping good yarn about dirty bomb drone swarms in Wellington New Zealand, a couple of destroyed spy bases, an air force base on fire and only a hastily assembled bunch of Kiwi reservists standing between the terrorists and their ultimate goal. Doing well in the Amazon 45-Minute Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Short Reads rankings.

Coming soon – a Kiwi crime thriller involving gangs, drugs and some not so straight cops!

A Poke in the Fifth Eye by Simon Roberts. Book Cover. Available on Amazon Kindle
A Poke in the Fifth Eye by Simon Roberts. Book Cover. Available on Amazon Kindle

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

  • Defence Policy
  • Foreign Affairs
  • National Security
  • New Zealand
  • Politics
  • Red Team
  • veterans
  • Communications
  • DPMC
  • Long Term Insights Briefing
  • National Security
  • Public Engagement
  • strategy

Published by Simon

I tell stories in order to challenge people to challenge the status quo. Much of my work is investigative journalism in both print and podcast media. Other pieces are more academic in nature. The pure pleasure comes from creating fiction. As part of my day-to-day work, I also design and deliver outcome simulations (business war games) for corporate clients and provide 'Red Team' services for organisations that want to stress-test their plans. I teach a range of experiential learning programmes. I research and publish on national security issues with a New Zealand focus. I am the co-founder of a private think tank on cyber warfare research. My passion is writing fiction (under the pen name of Simon Roberts) that helps people engage in an interesting way with complex concepts about future war, intelligence and security. I love boating and fishing in between and the Marlborough Sounds in New Zealand's South Island is my favourite haunt. I play several musical instruments averagely, grow chillies and have run the odd scotch whisky school. View all posts by Simon

Post navigation

Previous National Security Long Term Insights Briefing – Submission to DPMC
Next Duty Call or Booty Call?

Copyright Notice

All writing on the unclas.com site is copyright. You are welcome to use material non-commercially as long as you acknowledge source. The source of pictures is noted where known.

Search the site

Tags

ACT Party Afghanistan Air Force ANZAC Day Asia-Pacific Australia behaviour Business Canada CDF centre of gravity China Coronavirus COVID-19 Culture Defence Defence Capability Plan Defence Force disruption East Timor Featured Gerry Brownlee Government Grant Robertson Green Party hacking Health Heather Roy Indo-Pacific Internet Iraq Jacinda Ardern Japan Labour Party Lessons Learned media Ministry of Defence National Party National Security National Security Advisor National Security Strategy Navy New Zealand NZ NZ Army NZDF NZ First Party NZ Greens NZ Labour NZ Police Pacific Politics Reserve Force RNZAF RNZN Ron Mark Russia Search and Rescue security strategy tactics Technology Terrorism Training United Kingdom United States USA veterans Veterans' Affairs Vietnam White Paper Winston Peters World War One World War Two
Follow New Zealand's National Security on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Archives

Pages

  • Centre for Cyber Warfare Research
  • Military Fiction by Simon Roberts
    • Breaking War
    • COVID Wars – The World Resets
  • About
  • Contact
Follow New Zealand's National Security on WordPress.com

Translate this blog

Blogs I Follow

  • The 5WWCT Regimental Association
  • Grumpy Bob - Marlborough Sounds Handyman
  • Alistair J. Michaels
  • Strategic Studies Book Club
  • Paul's Blog
  • cyberarmscontrolblog
  • PAXsims
  • Mad Scientist Laboratory
  • Divergent Options
  • Environment & Disasters
  • TorquePoint
  • One Sock: Heather Roy's Blog
  • August Cole
  • New Zealand's National Security

Blog Stats

  • 78,082 hits
Blog at WordPress.com.
The 5WWCT Regimental Association

Grumpy Bob - Marlborough Sounds Handyman

Baches, Boats, Backyards & Beautiful Wooden Gifts

Alistair J. Michaels

Writer, Political Thinker, Son of Zealandia

Strategic Studies Book Club

Paul's Blog

THOUGHTS ON CYBER WARFARE

cyberarmscontrolblog

International Agreement for Control of Cyber Weapons

PAXsims

Conflict simulation, peacebuilding, and development

Mad Scientist Laboratory

Divergent Options

www.DivergentOptions.org -- National Security Analysis, Options Without Advocacy, and Podcasts

Environment & Disasters

A New Zealand critique on all aspects of Health, Public, Environmental, Occupational, Safety and Emergency Management

TorquePoint

Creating Wins With Smart Global Thinkers

One Sock: Heather Roy's Blog

A blog for my thoughts and writings - past, present and future

August Cole

Exploring The Future, One Page At A Time

New Zealand's National Security

Simon Ewing-Jarvie: Editor

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • New Zealand's National Security
    • Join 57 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • New Zealand's National Security
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
    %d bloggers like this: