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The New Zealand government on Tuesday appointed a new military chief to succeed Lieutenant General Rhys Jones, whose term was marked by political wrangling over funding and safety issues.
Defense Minister Jonathan Coleman announced that Major General Tim Keating was appointed as the new chief of the New Zealand Defense Force (NZDF).
Vice Chief of Defense Force since December last year, Keating would be promoted to Lieutenant General and take over from Jones on Feb. 1 next year for a three-year term.
"Major General Keating is a strong, credible leader with 32 years of military experience serving New Zealand. He has extensive organizational management, leadership and operational experience, and is well respected within the NZDF and the international defense community," Coleman said in a statement.
"During his time as vice chief, he has ably supported the CDF ( Chief of Defense Force) in uniting the NZDF around a strategic, cohesive vision for a future defense force. He has been able to translate strategic ideas into practical and achievable plans, particularly for use on the frontline."
Keating joined the army in 1982, and had been deployed to Afghanistan as commander of the Bamyan Provincial Reconstruction Team in 2005, and was promoted to the role of chief of army in February 2011.
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 ( 331.12 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, 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, 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 last year.
Last month, 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.
