Source: Radio New Zealand
Modern housing is needed to attract and keep personnel in Waiouru, the NZDF says. New Zealand Defence Force
An advocacy group for military personnel is concerned there is too much focus on buying “shiny things”, not enough on the people needed to staff them.
Mission Homefront was co-founded by retired Lieutenant Colonel Hayden Ricketts and army spouse Erin Speedy, as a voice for defence personnel.
Ricketts spent 26 years in the Army, serving in the Middle East and Asia, as well as 10 years at New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) headquarters.
He told RNZ’s Nine to Noon that Mission Homefront is worried that while there has been spending on ships, boats and buildings, such investments need people to staff them – people who are currently enduring poor housing, increased living costs, and overwork.
Ricketts said he keeps hearing similar themes from personnel he speaks with.
“Everywhere I go it’s the same story: ‘I don’t have enough people to do the things I’m asked to do. I can’t deliver the training I need to do. I can’t deliver the command and welfare support… I don’t have enough qualified and experienced people to be able to deliver”.
Ricketts said while NZDF recruitment was currently “okay” at entry level, retention of more senior personnel was not.
“As you move through the ranks… you’re looking around at the situation, there’s not enough people, you’re doing three people’s jobs, you’ve got a whole bunch of additional responsibilities, but you’re not getting remunerated for those. You start looking around. The house you’re living in is pretty old and cold. You’re likely to pick up between 20 and 30 grand extra for your skills out in civvie street (outside the NZDF). So you’re looking around wondering if this is really worth it.”
He said while 23 new homes had just been completed across three bases, that was a third of the 75 announced in 2023, and none of the 50 promised for Waiouru had been started.
Mission Homefront co-founder Hayden Ricketts Supplied
He said New Zealand needed to do “whatever we can” to keep personnel with over a decade’s experience – such as long-service pay rises and leave.
He warned that the 2024 grounding and sinking of the HMNZS Manawanui in Samoa, was “what happens in the Defence Force when we don’t have enough qualified and experienced people.”
The HMNZS Manawanui, aground in Samoa. Profile Boats / supplied
“Navy put a perfectly good, $70 million ship onto a reef, by day, onto a reef they knew was there… Those are the risks we’re talking about taking.
“Now I’m not saying we’re gonna crash planes and crash tanks and things. But it’s not a game of tiddly-winks that we’re playing out there, and these are real people with real consequences.
“If we don’t have enough qualified people out there to do the things the governments needs, then, you know, bad things happen.”
And he said any talk of keeping up with modern warfare by investing in autonomous systems and AI was hollow without investing in retaining personnel.
“The important part is the people behind that system that’s gathering the information, doing the analysis, putting those things together… And those people are highly skilled, highly valuable, and in demand, not only in the military but also in the private sector, in Australia and further afield.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/20/government-urged-to-prioritise-retention-of-trained-defence-personnel/