The size and use of reserve military forces in New Zealand will be reviewed as part of several "value-for-money initiatives" outlined in the Government's Defence white paper.
The initiatives include the rationalisation and centralisation of many of the three forces' services, including "reshaping" and "modernising" the reserves so they have a more "integrated" role with regular forces.
The Naval Volunteer Reserve, the territorial force of the New Zealand Army and the air force territorial force, are often collectively known as the reserve forces.
Dunedin is home to naval reserves based at HMNZS Toroa and the 4th Otago South Battalion group, based at Kensington Army Hall.
The white paper, released by Prime Minister John Key yesterday, said in recent years the territorial force had been called upon to support a wide range of operations, for example in Timor-Leste.
The reserve forces also provided a valuable contingency resource able to assist in natural disasters and civil defence emergencies such as the 2010 Canterbury earthquake.
"That said ... over the past year only one in every 20 of the territorial force [or 88 personnel] have deployed on operations.
And annual expenditure on the reserve forces is currently greater than the total budget of the regular force Light Infantry Battalion at Burnham," the paper said.
Reserve capability was desirable but needing consideration were the size of the reserve forces; whether members should be treated as part-time NZDF personnel; whether it should be general or specialist in nature; the extent of its deployment capability; whether it should be of military utility only or also have a community-building function; the extent of integration into regular force units; and cost.
The key tenet of any modernisation of the existing reserves would be greater integration of the reserve forces with the regular force.
The Chief of Defence Force will provide the Government with a report by March 31 next year.
