New Zealand’s top military officer, Air Marshal Tony Davies, resigned as Chief of Defence Force on Friday after admitting to an inappropriate relationship from his time in command of a unit, a matter he had never disclosed.
The resignation took effect immediately. It removes the head of the Defence Force exactly two weeks before the 7 November general election, at a time when the Government is partway through a $12 billion plan to rebuild the military and has just signed new contracts for navy helicopters.
In a statement released by the Defence Force, Davies said “The resignation is for personal reasons, and results from errors of judgement made by me in the past”. He said the errors were “contrary to the values of the Defence Force” and that they involved “an inappropriate relationship I had when in a position of unit command”. He added that he regretted “not disclosing this when I had the opportunity to do so.”
Davies said his focus was now on his family and asked for privacy. The Defence Force has referred the matter to the Inspector-General of Defence and said it had no further comment.
Neither Davies nor the Defence Force has said when the relationship took place, which unit he was commanding at the time or who else was involved. The Associated Press reported that he did not explain the circumstances or say when it happened.
Defence Minister Paul Goldsmith said Davies had told him of his decision. “The reasons regarding his decision relate to integrity matters, that he did not previously disclose,” Goldsmith said, according to 1News. “We both agree his position is no longer tenable.”
Goldsmith said he would recommend to the Governor-General that she accept the resignation. The Chief of Defence Force is formally appointed by the Governor-General on the minister’s recommendation.
“I acknowledge his 42 years of service and his contribution to the New Zealand Defence Force,” Goldsmith said, adding in the version of his statement reported by the NZ Herald that the circumstances “will be a great disappointment to the men and women of the Defence Force.”
Chief of Army Major General Rose King is acting in the top job until Sunday. From then the Vice Chief of Defence Force, Rear Admiral Mat Williams, takes over as Acting Chief of Defence Force while a permanent replacement is found. With the election so close, that choice may fall to whoever holds the defence portfolio in the next government.
Davies joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 1984. He was Chief of Air Force from 2016 to 2018 and Vice Chief of Defence Force from 2018, according to the Defence Force’s May 2024 announcement of his promotion. He was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 1999 for leading a winter medical rescue flight from McMurdo Station in Antarctica.
He took over from Air Marshal Kevin Short on 6 June 2024 for a three-year term, which would have run until mid-2027. When announcing the appointment in May 2024, the then Defence Minister Judith Collins said she was confident he would lead the Defence Force “with integrity and a commitment to safeguard New Zealand’s interests.”
Former Defence Minister Ron Mark, who is standing again for New Zealand First at this election, told RNZ the news would hit service personnel hard. “It’ll be a shock to the men and women in our Defence Force,” he said. Mark said the circumstances needed to be investigated thoroughly, including what was known and when, and suggested Defence Force processes may have failed. He described the situation as “uncharted water.”
The Inspector-General of Defence is a relatively new office, created by the Inspector-General of Defence Act 2023. When that law passed in July 2023, the Ministry of Defence said it set up the office “to provide a mechanism for independent oversight” of the Defence Force.
The timing is awkward for the Defence Force. In September a report warned that the $12 billion defence rebuild would depend on governments not yet elected. This week New Zealand also signed a $1.6 billion deal for five Seahawk navy helicopters, and Labour has questioned the scale of the defence plan. Rear Admiral Williams will now oversee that programme through the election, the post-election coalition talks and the arrival of a new or returning defence minister.
Davies is not the first senior public sector leader to leave in a hurry this week. Fire and Emergency New Zealand chief executive Kerry Gregory also resigned on Friday, a month after a public rebuke from his minister.
Defence has not been one of the loudest issues of the campaign, but the parties do differ on how much to spend and what to buy. If you are still weighing up where the parties stand on defence and other big issues, you can take our voting tool to see which party best matches your views.
No findings have been made by the Inspector-General, and Davies has given no further detail beyond his statement. Newswire will report on any outcome of the referral.
What do you think? Did the Chief of Defence Force make the right call by resigning, and should the next government change how senior military appointments are vetted? Let us know in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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