Will building an integrated ‘Anzac force’ with Australia cost NZ strategic freedom?

New Zealand is undertaking its largest military buildup in decades, committing to increase defence spending from just over one percent of GDP to two percent over the next decade. But U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recently argued that's not enough—three point five percent is now the global standard, he says. Meanwhile, as The Conversation reports, New Zealand is simultaneously integrating militarily with Australia, designing an 'Anzac force' by 2035 for deep interchangeability. Defence Minister Chris Penk has said New Zealand retains the freedom to refuse participation in Australian wars. But once a military is built to function within Australian operational planning, declining that participation becomes politically and strategically far costlier—and these procurement decisions may quietly constrain New Zealand's strategic independence in ways that warrant explicit parliamentary scrutiny.

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