2020 election: New Zealand’s first leader Winston Peters promises defense personnel a pay rise

NZ First leader Winston Peters has promised all defense personnel a 5 percent pay increase.

He stood in front of an audience of approximately 35 people in Palmerston North to promise all New Zealand Defense Forces personnel a raise, which would cost the government $ 50.5 million a year.

Peters said the military was an integral but forgotten part, and that some were paid less than secretaries.

“Why are they ignored the rest of the time, until we need them? The women and men of our defense force are called immediately when disaster strikes. “

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Peters said that the New Zealand Defense Forces were crucial during Covid-19 and deserved to be paid as such.

“We never got to the top of Covid-19 until we brought in the military.”

He said they played an important role in keeping all people safe, whether in the Pacific or when natural disasters struck. “We know it is not enough, but it is a start.”

Peters also said that managed isolation facilities should be located on military bases, rather than hotels.

He said it made no sense for people in isolation to be placed in the country’s largest city, surrounded by large Pasifika and Maori populations at risk.

It was much cheaper and much more effective to have people isolated on a military base, in smaller communities and with less chance of escape.

“They [the military] They are the right people to manage our quarantine facilities. The army knows how to follow orders. “

NZ First Palmerston North candidate Darroch Ball said the salary increase would affect thousands of servicemen in Palmerston North and Manawatū.

“It’s fundamental”.

He said there would not necessarily be an isolation facility at Linton, as Waiouru and Ohakea already had the proper infrastructure.

“If we are seriously planning, we need to look at the Defense Force and the long-term infrastructure, and the pay increases.”

Ball said the government would need to invest in temporary and permanent infrastructure at military bases to make facilities that are fit for purpose.

“Whether buildings and facilities, water or sewage.”

He said it was not known how long Covid-19 would last and that planning had to be “complete and robust.”

He said soldiers working on the isolation project could also be quarantined at the base and would not have contact with civilians. “No one is going in and out.”