16 May 2018

Defence unlikely a top priority for Budget 2018

From Morning Report, 7:49 am on 16 May 2018

Defence is a portfolio involving vast sums of money, but doesn't hit headlines as much as the likes of health, education of housing. But it is important given the increasing demands of disaster relief, cyber and maritime security and New Zealand's foreign policy priorities. The previous government made a $20 billion commitment over 15 years to upgrade the armed forces. The new government says there was no hard cash to back that up, and first it has to deal with some major budget blow-outs. In the latest of our pre-Budget stories, here's our political editor, Jane Patterson.