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Challenges to international security and stability are being acutely felt – both internationally and closer to home. 

Our Defence Assessment 2021(external link), released just over a year ago, describes a much more challenging strategic environment for New Zealand than in recent decades. It identified principal challenges coming from growing strategic competition and the increasing impacts of climate change. These, as well as the continuing impacts of COVID-19, intersect with and are amplified by a range of other sources of insecurity, including emerging technologies, violent extremism, and transnational organised crime.

That is why Aotearoa New Zealand is looking at a defence policy shift to ensure we have the right settings in which to respond to the challenges we face both now, and those of the future.

Last year, the Government approved a Defence Policy Review – a comprehensive look at our defence settings to ensure we can respond to this dynamic global security environment. Defence is now working on strategy and policy that will provide a road map so we can ensure we have the right capability (people and assets) to respond.

We’d like to know your views as we shape this advice to Government.

Next steps

Defence is currently preparing a Defence Policy and Strategy Statement and a set of Future Force Design Principles for Government consideration.

Defence has commissioned Kantar Public to develop an online survey (now closed). A summary of all feedback will published on this website later this year.

Detailed submissions have also now closed (as at 30 April)

Note that all feedback provided is subject to Official Information Act. 

 Please take a few moments to learn about Defence Policy, the strategic environment and our Defence Force.