Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Leader of the House) Link to this
I seek leave to move a motion without notice on the death of a member of the armed forces.
Mr SPEAKERHon GERRY BROWNLEE Link to this
I move, That this House express its sorrow at the death of serving Royal New Zealand Air Force Flight Sergeant Andrew Bruce Forster. On behalf of the Government, and on behalf of this House, I offer our deepest sympathies to the family of Flight Sergeant Forster—his wife, Karen, and their three children—as well as to his squadron, colleagues, and friends.
Flight Sergeant Forster lost his life on Thursday last week while conducting his duties as a bomb disposal expert for the New Zealand Explosive Ordnance Disposal Squadron. He had served our Royal New Zealand Air Force for more than 27 years, and earlier this year completed a 6-month deployment to Afghanistan as part of New Zealand’s provincial reconstruction team. His was a career of service: service to the New Zealand Defence Force and service to his country. Flight Sergeant Forster loved his work and he was respected by his colleagues as a consummate professional. He had been recognised with medals for long service and good conduct, and for his service in Afghanistan operations.
His tragic death serves to remind us of the risks and sacrifice that members of our armed forces routinely undertake on our behalf. We are grateful for their bravery, their dedication, and their efforts on behalf of all New Zealanders. We stand alongside them as they mourn this tragic loss today, and we offer them our support and condolences at this most difficult time.
Hon PHIL GOFF (Leader of the Opposition) Link to this
I join the Leader of the House in expressing, on behalf of my colleagues in the New Zealand Labour Party, our deepest sympathy to Flight Sergeant Andrew Forster’s wife, Karen, and his three children, Candice, Mitchell, and Ashlee. We give them our deepest sympathy for their tragic loss. Our condolences go also to members of the New Zealand Defence Force. As a former Minister of Defence, I know that the Defence Force is very much a family, and his colleagues within the force will be grieving his loss at this time.
Sergeant Andrew Forster had served with the New Zealand Defence Force for 27 years. He was extremely well regarded. He was respected for the job he did, and he was much liked by those whom he worked with. According to one friend, he was always there for his friends and his colleagues. Any loss of life in these circumstances is tragic, but it is all the more so when we consider that Sergeant Forster had just returned from a rotation in Afghanistan. It was in Afghanistan that we would have expected him to be most at risk. Of course, in serving his time there he was separated for 6 months from his wife and children.
Working in the disposal of live ammunition is a dangerous job wherever one does it, but Andrew Forster accepted that risk. He was an experienced armaments specialist, and he was enjoying his new role with the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Squadron in Trentham, which I had privilege of opening last year. Accidents of this nature are fortunately rare—only one has happened in the last 5 years—but the New Zealand Defence Force will be conducting an inquiry into the accident to see what lessons can be learnt from it.
Sergeant Forster’s funeral will take place at Ōhākea air force base just a few minutes from now. Our thoughts are with his family, his friends, and the New Zealand Defence Force at this extremely sad time.
Dr RUSSEL NORMAN (Co-Leader—Green) Link to this
The Green Party rises today to express its condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of Flight Sergeant Andrew Forster, and particularly to Andrew’s wife, Karen, and their three teenage children. Prior to his tragic death in Waiōuru last week, Sergeant Forster had been involved in defusing bombs in Afghanistan. The work of defusing munitions in conflict zones is vital to allow civilians to get on with their lives and essential to maintain civil society in conflict zones.
New Zealanders are proud of the work done by people such as Flight Sergeant Forster. New Zealand has sent teams of brave individuals like Sergeant Forster all over the world. In recent years we have sent bomb disposal experts to countries such as Lebanon and Cambodia to assist in clearing these conflict zones of thousands of munitions, which each year kill and maim scores of innocent people.
I cannot imagine how dangerous the work that Sergeant Forster involved himself in was. The work of Sergeant Forster and his colleagues overseas will have saved many people from death and injury. It takes a special sort of person to put him or herself in harm’s way so that others may lead normal lives. The Green Party is proud to stand in Parliament today and pay tribute to Andrew Forster for the brave work he did in the interests of making the world a safer place.
Hon RODNEY HIDE (Leader—ACT) Link to this
I rise on behalf of the ACT Party, and also on behalf of the Acting Minister of Defence, Heather Roy, to mark the passing of Royal New Zealand Air Force Flight Sergeant Andrew Forster, who was killed earlier this week in the course of his duty, at Waiōuru. The Hon Heather Roy is unable to be here as she is attending Flight Sergeant Forster’s funeral at Ōhākea.
Flight Sergeant Forster served his country for close to three decades, having joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 1982. In that time he was posted to No. 14 Squadron RNZAF, Tech Wing Ōhākea, No. 75 Squadron RNZAF, the Ōhākea gun bay, the Ōhākea armament maintenance workshops, the directorate of aeronautical configuration, and the New Zealand Explosive Ordnance Disposal Squadron. Flight Sergeant Forster was involved in exercises in both Australia and Singapore. His first operational deployment came in 2005, when he was deployed to the Gulf, to the United Arab Emirates. This was followed by deployment to Afghanistan’s Bamian Province with the explosive ordnance disposal team, from which he returned only in April. As others have remarked, this was dangerous work, and, clearly, Flight Sergeant Forster was a very brave and courageous man.
Flight Sergeant Forster was a consummate professional in everything he did. This is reflected in his service history and the honours and awards that he received: the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, the New Zealand Operational Service Medal, the New Zealand General Service Medal (Afghanistan), and the NATO Medal for the Non - Article 5 International Security Assistance Force Operation in Afghanistan.
He was also a well-liked and respected mentor of those who worked with, and for, him. He was patient with subordinates, and always worked hard to help them to be the best that they could be. Andrew Forster communicated well across the ranks, and was held in the very highest esteem by both his superiors and his peers.
He was careful to balance his work with his commitments to his family: his wife, Karen, and their three children, Candice, Mitchell, and Ashlee. Our thoughts today are with them. Times like this remind us it is not just our servicemen and servicewomen who serve our country; it is their families, as well.
Andrew Forster’s death is a reminder of the dangers faced by our New Zealand Defence Force personnel every day, no matter where they are serving. He will be deeply missed by his friends at Ōhākea, throughout the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and across the wider New Zealand Defence Force. Our condolences and deepest sympathies go out to Flight Sergeant Forster’s family, his friends, and his colleagues.
Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES (Co-Leader—Māori Party) Link to this
The Māori Party stands to convey our respects to the bereaved family and the community at the loss of Flight Sergeant Andrew Forster. The impact of this tragedy will have spread from Waiōuru, across Manawatū, right through to Bamian province in Afghanistan—all the areas where Sergeant Forster was respected and very well liked. But the shock of his death is even more pointed in that he was killed in the line of duty, carrying out a routine process to mark an unexploded bomb when the shell exploded, killing him and injuring another Defence Force member. I also have a close association with Waiōuru Military Camp. I served there as a cadet in my younger days, and I also helped to establish tikanga Māori at Waiōuru and the marae at Rongomaraeroa o ngā hau e whā i reira.
So I have been proud to be associated with the soldiers of Te Taua o Tūmatauenga. Flight Sergeant Andrew Forster had just returned from active service in Afghanistan. He had served with the Air Force for 27 years, and ultimately he lost his life in the line of duty for a country that he was proud to serve. We too are proud to honour him and all those soldiers within Ngāti Tūmatauenga who display such extraordinary courage in their commitment to Aotearoa.
As is our custom in respecting the dead, I must also acknowledge the passing of a young Māori leader, Hāwea Vercoe, a dynamic leader who, sadly, has also been taken from us. Nā reira, kōrua Flight Sergeant Andrew Forster, Hāwea Vercoe, haere kōrua ki te okioki, hai aha? Hai whāriki mā mātou, haere, haere rā.
[So to you two, Flight Sergeant Andrew Forster and Hāwea Vercoe, depart to the resting place; and for what purpose? To be a cover for us, depart, farewell.]
Hon PETER DUNNE (Leader—United Future) Link to this
On behalf of United Future I join with the other speakers in paying a tribute and extending condolences to the family of the late Flight Sergeant Andrew Forster, who so tragically lost his life last week. It is hard enough to comprehend the loss of life in an active military situation, but it is even worse in a situation such as the one that befell Flight Sergeant Forster, when, to all intents and purposes, he was back on safe ground in New Zealand, reunited with his family after his stint overseas in Afghanistan and, I suspect, probably looking forward to a more tranquil lifestyle for at least the foreseeable future. His work was dangerous, but I still think he probably imagined that this would be a slightly more relaxed period of life than he had recently endured. All of that makes the loss of him that much more difficult for his family and his friends. They had endured the hard times, or so they thought, and now, when they were back together again, this tragedy has struck.
In this House this week we will be engaging ourselves in a range of important business to get ready for the Christmas period that is soon to befall us. Around the country people are starting to plan what their holidays might bring and what things they need to bring to a conclusion before the end of this year. For Flight Sergeant Forster’s family, there will be a special emptiness. This time will be a time of great sadness, with a great feeling of loss. I just hope—and I am sure it will happen—that all his friends in the New Zealand Defence Force and people in the wider community who have been so shocked by the circumstances of his death will bind around his family now, to provide them with the strength and the comfort that they will need, not only in these immediate, difficult days but also in the more difficult days ahead.
As others have said, this was a man of exceptional courage, working for a defence force that prides itself on its commitment, its integrity, its professionalism, and its dedication. In many senses, this is loss for the entire New Zealand Defence Force as well as for the Forster family. Our hearts go out to all of them in this time of tragedy. Our hope is that they can draw comfort from the strength and support of each other, and that the memories that are positive outweigh in the long term the sense of loss they are now enduring.