26294 (2026). Camilla Belich to the Minister of Defence

26294 (2026). Camilla Belich to the Minister of Defence: How many confidential settlement agreements, non-disclosure agreements or confidentiality clauses, if any, have been entered into with employees, former employees, contractors, or office holders by any agency, department, Crown entity, company, or other organisation for which the Minister is responsible since 27 November 2023, broken down by organisation, total cost, and year, as at 5 June 2026?

Hon Chris Penk: The Ministry of Defence will sometimes use non-disclosure agreements as part of involvement in panels assessing sensitive commercial information for the purchase of a major military equipment. None of these involve an associated cost. No confidential settlements have been entered into in this period. Since 27 November 2023, the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) has entered into 24 confidential settlement agreements, non-disclosure agreements or confidentiality clauses. Of these agreements, 20 relate to civilian employees and 4 relate to members of the Armed Forces. The total cost to the NZDF was $234,443. This figure does not include contractual entitlements paid to employees in accordance with the terms of their employment contract, or paid to members of the Armed Forces in accordance with their conditions of service. This response does not include the routine use of confidentiality requirements which are provided solely for the purposes of handling sensitive or classified information.