New commander takes charge of New Zealand military

The New Zealand Defense Force ( NZDF) came under a new commander Friday, with Lieutenant General Tim Keating taking over from Lieutenant General Rhys Jones, whose term was marked by political wrangling and safety issues. Defense Minister Jonathan Coleman thanked Jones for his service to New Zealand and his distinguished 35-year career in the NZDF. "He has overseen the withdrawal of the NZDF's commitments in Afghanistan, Timor-Leste and Solomon Islands, and he responded to a range of humanitarian assistance operations, including the Christchurch Earthquakes and events in the South Pacific," Coleman said in a statement. Keating was a strong, credible leader with 32 years of military experience, he said. Keating had joined the Army in 1982 and held various command positions. He had been deployed to Afghanistan as the Commander of the Bamyan Provincial Reconstruction Team in 2005. He held a Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College, Pennsylvania. Keating will have a three-year term as Commander of Defense Force. Jones was appointed the country's top military officer in January 2011 on a three-year contract and was instructed by the government to cut the defense budget by 400 million NZ dollars ( 326.15 million U.S. dollars). But critics have said the funding cuts have damaged morale among the ranks, and resulted in essential personnel being made redundant. In September last year, when Jones announced his retirement, the main opposition Labor Party said he was being made a scapegoat for failed policies, and the same month a safety review of the NZDF indicated that cost cutting, restructuring and high attrition were all factors in the poor safety record of the NZDF. In July last year, the NZDF was convicted in court on breaches of the country's workplace health and safety laws regarding the death of a soldier during a training exercise in September 2012. In November, the sole survivor of an air force helicopter crash that killed three other personnel in April 2010 was given leave by a Wellington court to bring charges alleging health and safety violations against the NZDF.