DEFENCE
Tim van de Molen: Recent challenges, future demands In his inaugural Line of Defence article, National Party spokesperson for Defence and Veterans Tim van de Molen covers Operation Protect, Defence Assessment, Tonga response, and future demands on Defence.
Tim van de Molen is National Party spokesperson for Defence and Veterans and a former member of the New Zealand Army Reserve Forces.
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I am delighted to make my first contribution to Line of Defence as the National Party spokesperson for the Defence and Veterans portfolios. I consider it a huge privilege, but also a great responsibility, to have been named spokesperson for these portfolios and I hope to build on the good work done by my predecessor, Chris Penk, who retains an active interest in this area. It is my intent to regularly contribute to this publication in order to share my views on current or potential challenges and opportunities within the broader defence domain. Any feedback on these contributions is most welcome and with that in mind, I also intend to reach out to key stakeholders across this portfolio to ensure I am as well informed as possible (though please feel free to reach out first and share your perspective on any relevant issues as they arise). Defence is critical for New Zealand and my aim is to ensure we are proactive and well-positioned to deliver prompt and effective solutions in areas of importance for New Zealand. By way of introduction I am the Member of Parliament for Waikato, having been first elected in 2017 and subsequently re-elected in 2020. Prior to this I had no real political involvement but rather came from a commercial and
rural background, having been in business ownership, farming and rural banking during the 15 years prior to my election. Alongside these careers I also enlisted in the NZ Army Territorials and commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 2010. It was my pleasure to serve as an Infantry Platoon Commander based in Hamilton on and off over the subsequent six years. This by no means makes me an expert in the Defence portfolio but rather I hope it demonstrates that I have a clear passion and interest for defence and will absolutely be giving this role 100%. One of the largest issues I’ve been hearing about since stepping into this portfolio is the significant impact Operation Protect is having on our New Zealand Defence Force. Dealing with a global pandemic is a massive challenge for any government and I absolutely support the utilisation of Defence Force assets through the initial wave of the pandemic. The ability of our Defence Force to rapidly stand up operational capability regardless of the threat is one of the key deliverables that we should always be testing ourselves against, so having Defence personnel manning our Managed Isolation and Quarantine facilities was appropriate at the start of the Line of Defence
