The Government introduced the Defence (Workforce) Amendment Bill in September 2025. This Bill would introduce a new process to make it easier for the Minister of Defence to authorise the Armed Forces to conduct the work of New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) Civil Staff taking industrial action.

The PSA made a submission opposing this Bill and recommending that the Committee report back to the House that the Bill should not progress. In our submission we said that passing this Bill would be at the expense of democratic accountability by the Minister, the rights of workers, and the morale of NZDF’s military and civilian workforce. The far better option is to avoid industrial action, and the way to do that is to come to the bargaining table with fair offers that provide good working conditions and pay people what they’re worth.

You can read our submission below.