New Zealand Defense Minister Wayne Mapp told a political news program on TVNZ television that publication will be in September and not the end of March as was planned by the National Party government.

He said the review is a "25-year look at things" including expenditure for which the government has contracted efficiency consultants to heavily examine.

New Zealand's annual defense budget is around $1.7 billion.

But within that, $35 million a year needs to be found and shifted toward operational areas. In that respect, it is not a cost-cutting exercise, he said.

Mapp was elusive when asked if the government would close military bases to save money, saying only that closures were not the primary focus.

"There are some challenges largely due to the recession and things of that nature that we have to deal with over the next five years. So we're doing a value-for-money exercise, a deep look into the defense system to see if we can get resources essentially from the back office to the front.

"We've got to sort that out because, when the report is published, people have got to have confidence that it's affordable actually over the entire 25 years."

Consultants are scrutinizing areas such as human resources and some training to see if duplicate programs can be cut. Also, some opportunities appear likely for public private-partnership contracts for running military bases.

The government recently built $105 million worth of hangars for the new helicopters. "You would think things like that could be done more effectively by a public-private partnership," he said.

But opposition Labor leader Phil Goff, a former defense minister, said there was little fat left on the military after cost-cutting in the 1990s and the paper should be published now.

"Dr. Mapp has to guarantee that his cuts are not going to put at risk the lives of our New Zealand service people serving their country overseas," Goff said.

The defense review was announced in April 2009 with a public consultation last summer. The last defense review was in 1997.

Mapp also said work continues on a joint Australia-New Zealand military company of 150 personnel. This is part of discussions toward making the two countries' forces more compatible and work more efficiently together for disaster relief and other efforts to maintain stability in the Pacific area.

Military relations were improving with the United States, Mapp said during the same TVNZ program. The blanket ban imposed by the United States on military exercises with New Zealand is about to be lifted "in the areas where it's relevant to do so."

The ban was imposed as a reprisal against New Zealand's anti-nuclear stance, which became law in 1987. According to a U.S. Department of State country synopsis, "even after President George W. Bush's 1991 announcement that U.S. surface ships do not normally carry nuclear weapons, New Zealand's legislation prohibiting visits of nuclear-powered ships continues to preclude a bilateral security alliance with the U.S."

New Zealand has not participated in exercises such as those held before a Special Forces deployment in Afghanistan.

"The two countries do have strong views on certain things, of course, and you well know that New Zealand is nuclear free," Mapp said. "The U.S. understands that, so that sort of sets a bit of a parameter, but in practical things we can work together."

Mapp's statement confirms a report in January by the New Zealand Herald newspaper that a lifting of the ban was imminent and set to be announced during visit of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. That visit, however, was canceled because of the earthquake in Haiti.

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