Attack on defence spending causes offense

Attack on defence spending causes offense

From The Detail by RNZ

June 8, 2026 · 25 min · Episode 1610

About this episode

The episode discusses the criticism of New Zealand's defence spending by the US Secretary of War and the implications for the country's military budget.

The US Secretary of War put NZ's defence spending in the spotlight last week, calling us 'freeloaders', and forcing a conversation about how much we spend and whether our government can justify it The New Zealand Defence Force was one of the big winners in this year's budget, but the US Secretary of War says it's still not cutting it, calling NZ 'freeloaders' Find The Detail on Newsroom or RNZ Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Topics covered

  • defence spending
  • US relations
  • New Zealand budget
  • military funding
  • government justification

Keywords

  • defence spending
  • US Secretary of War
  • New Zealand
  • military budget
  • freeloaders

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: New Zealand Defence Force

Places: New Zealand

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