EDITOR’S NOTE

Kia ora and welcome to the Summer 2024-25 edition –and 34th issue – of Line of Defence Magazine!

In this edition, we’re privileged to be joined by contributing writers former Defence Minister Hon Dr Wayne Mapp QSO, Editor-at-Large Dr Peter Greener, CloudFlare’s Steve Bray, Dr John Battersby from the Massey University Centre for Defence & Security Studies, and Associate Professor Helen Petousis-Harris from the University of Auckland, and expert commentators Ben Morgan and Kyrylo Kutcher.

Some excellent updates also from Line of Defence sponsors Babcock, Nova Systems, and GA-ASI. These leaders of the Defence Industry make our publication possible.

The Defence Capability Plan has been delayed yet again. This time, we’re being told that China is to blame. Beijing’s testing of an ICBM over the Pacific appears to have changed the state of play. Dr Peter Greener investigates the claim.

With the Trump administration taking office on 20 January 2025, Dr Wayne Mapp considers the implications for New Zealand Defence policy. The master of ‘the art of the deal’ will be expecting an uplift in Defence spending by international partners, and this may be problematic for the New Zealand Government.

Domestically, New Zealand’s Privacy Commissioner is currently reviewing a recently concluded trial of facial recognition technology by supermarket cooperative Foodstuffs North Island.

Facial recognition CCTV has been touted as an answer to recidivism in retail crime. Far from being a silver bullet, however, a recent determination by Australia’s privacy commissioner on the deployment of FRT in Bunnings stores suggests that facial recognition is more of a sledgehammer.

According to Commissioner Carly Kind, deploying facial recognition technology “was the most intrusive option, disproportionately interfering with the privacy of everyone who entered its stores, not just high-risk individuals.”

While the collection of individuals’ biometric facial data at international airports and in certain other use cases appears to enjoy widespread public acceptance, the deployment of FRT in retail settings does not. More on this topic inside.

All this, and much more in this issue of Line of Defence, including a close look at the Wagner Group, foreign interference, the South Pacific Defence Ministers Meeting, the Southwest Pacific ‘shatterbelt’, and the latest Defence Industry news.

Season’s greetings from the Line of Defence team, and here’s to a fantastic 2025!

Nicholas Dynon, Auckland

Contributors

Associate Professor Helen Petousis-Harris

Hon Dr Wayne Mapp QSO

Professor Paul M. Bacon

Dr Peter Greener

Dr Nicholas Ross Smith

Mr Ben Morgan

Dr John Battersby

Mr Steve Bray

Mr Kyrylo Kutcher

Mr Nicholas Dynon SIPRI

GA-ASI

Nova Systems

SPONSORS & PARTNERS

Babcock

Nova Systems

GA-ASI

ASIS International

Massey University Centre for Defence & Security Studies

Cover Image

Cover image courtesy NZDF. Duty personnel perform daily colours ceremony onboard HMNZS Aotearoa while at McMurdo Station

UPCOMING ISSUE

AUTUMN: March 2025

Main themes: Information Domain, cyber, space, non-traditional security Copy Deadline: 29 February 2025

Publication: 15 March 2025