Chief of Army Rose King told former Minister of Defence Chris Penk it was an error to use compulsory language in the Army's bicultural policy. She is yet to brief Penk's replacement Paul Goldsmith.
A New Zealand Army bicultural policy has been on pause since a leaked version was shown to former Defence Minister Judith Collins. Before the pause, Chief of Army Rose King told a Waitangi Tribunal inquiry that she believed its development would survive the influence of politics. Troy Matich and David Fisher report on NZ First leader Winston Peters’ dismissal of the policy because “the only culture that matters is the New Zealand culture” and new details of how King sought to progress the policy after political influence threw it into jeopardy.
Chief of Army Rose King has said it was wrong to use language in the Army’s controversial cultural competency framework that appeared to make elements mandatory.
Despite her concession, the broader bicultural policy is going ahead amid rumblings from National’s coalition partners.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters – who brought the policy to the attention of then Minister of Defence Judith Collins back in February – remains dismissive of it, saying “the only culture that matters is the New Zealand culture”.
King is lining up to brief her third Minister of Defence this year on the policy – Collins retired, Chris Penk was sacked and Paul Goldsmith has inherited the portfolio alongside a suite of other responsibilities.
Collins was caught unawares by the policy as coalition partners Act and NZ First raised objections about the cultural component, which appeared to include obligations for officers to learn a certain number of karakia and other elements of te ao Māori.
The policy launch by King in January saw her link the Army’s bicultural approach directly to operational resilience, saying stronger cultural understanding and a shared identity would help protect soldiers against adversaries using disinformation to try to damage cohesion and trust.
After Collins learned of it in February, King paused the policy after discussions with Collins and senior New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) leadership. Collins publicly stressed that she wanted the Army focused on being a “fighting fit Army”.
By April, Collins was gone, and King was back before Penk as new Minister of Defence.
Meeting notes released under the Official Information Act show King told Penk it had been a mistake to use language that appeared to make elements compulsory.
Former Defence Minister Judith Collins (right) wanted the Army focused on being a "fighting-fit Army". Photo / George Heard
King also spoke about the original iteration of the policy in the late April meeting, telling the minister it intended to “codify Tikanga” on the marae and across the organisation.
“The intent of the policy was to support the development of bicultural awareness among service members and was not intended to be mandatory.
“The Chief of Army acknowledged that the inclusion of mandatory language in the cultural competency annex was an error,” the notes said.
King said the Army had been “reviewing the structure and content” of the policy after it was paused in February.
“The core policy includes tikanga relevant to the Ngā Tūmatauenga marae, focused on how the policy and broader biculturalism strengthens combat capability, not detracts,” the meeting notes said.
The notes of the meeting show Penk agreed with the proposed approach and set out his expectations of what the policy should achieve.
“He wanted to ensure the policy focused on how biculturalism lifts combat capability and core business while acknowledging the primacy of broader government policy,” the notes said.
Sacked Defence Minister Chris Penk wanted the policy to focus on "how biculturalism lifts combat capability". Photo / Mike Scott
The pause also attracted the attention of the Waitangi Tribunal. King had previously given evidence to its inquiry into Māori military veterans about the Army’s bicultural development.
During King’s testimony, she was asked if she was confident the Army could continue that journey “despite how the government of any given day may feel”. King answered: “Yes.”
King said she intended to share the redrafted policy with the Waitangi Tribunal which is reaching the closing stages of its inquiry.
She said she intended to provide draft annexes to the Waitangi Tribunal during the closing Crown Summary hearing beginning on November 30.
Chief of Army Rose King said she believed the Army's bicultural policy would survive politics. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
In an interview before being sacked, Penk appeared to step back from political involvement with the issue, saying he was leaving policy development up to the NZDF leadership.
“I think it’s appropriate that they make the decision, but I’m also grateful that I was briefed on progress in April.
“Obviously, I’ll be interested to remain aware of any ongoing developments. But as I say, it’s the Army’s decision in terms of what they put forward as a policy,” he said.
Penk’s office held a copy of the revised policy but refused to release it as part of the Official Information Act request.
Newstalk ZB and the Herald revealed the existence of the bicultural policy in February, just two weeks after it came into force across the Army.
Collins first learned of its existence after concerns were raised with her by New Zealand First leader Winston Peters and Act MP Todd Stephenson.
A leaked Cultural Skills Framework shared with Collins contained mandatory language around cultural competencies at different leadership levels, including knowing a minimum number of karakia (prayers/ritual chants) and waiata (song).
Leaked Army Cultural Skills Framework. Photo/ Supplied
New Defence Minister has ‘keen interest’ in bicultural policy
Penk was stripped of his portfolios last month after a leadership challenge against Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
After the August coup attempt, all but one of Penk’s portfolios were handed to Paul Goldsmith, including Defence, Space, Veterans and responsibility for GCSB and NZSIS.
In a statement, Goldsmith said: “I have a keen interest in the policy and am awaiting advice from NZDF on the next steps.”
New Defence Minister Paul Goldsmith has a "keen interest" in the policy. Photo / Mark Mitchell
NZ First, Act displeased with policy’s return
Act’s Stephenson and NZ First Leader Peters weren’t pleased that continued development of the bicultural policy was given ministerial approval, after raising it with Collins, the minister then, early in the year.
Stephenson said he didn’t think it was a good use of Army time.
“Modern warfare has changed dramatically in the last few years. Our Army needs to be focusing on developing the skills to be a modern fighting force,” he said.
Winston Peters said he rejected the concept of a "bicultural" policy. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Peters said he rejected the concept of a “bicultural” policy and that such a concept had no place in our military.
“It has no value in the military in particular. It should be a ‘New Zealand culture’ army. We are a country with all sorts of people in it. But the only culture that matters is the New Zealand culture.”
Peters referred to a conversation between Sir Robert Muldoon, New Zealand’s last soldier Prime Minister, and a then Army Chief of General Staff, Major General Brian Poananga. Muldoon asked, “How many Māori are in the Army?”, Poananga’s response was said to be: “Prime Minister, we only have soldiers in the Army.”
Troy Matich is a political reporter with Newstalk ZB, working from Parliament’s press gallery. She joined NZME in 2025, previously working for RNZ as a producer for Morning Report .
David Fisher is based in Northland and has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years, winning multiple journalism awards including being twice named Reporter of the Year and being selected as one of a small number of Wolfson Press Fellows to Wolfson College, Cambridge. He joined the Herald in 2004.
