The former Minister of Defence says delays to critical humanitarian flights to Vanuatu are embarrassing for New Zealand.
Rescuers are continuing to search for people trapped after a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck Port Vila on Tuesday, killing at least 14 people. Aftershocks have continued, including a 5.2 magnitude tremor on Thursday morning.
A specialist team of firefighters and volunteer doctors and engineers aboard a Hercules was due to land in the capital Port Vila with 10 tonnes of equipment on Wednesday night.
But the Defence Force said the crew was forced to divert to Noumea in New Caledonia after an engine fire warning.
The C-130H plane had been flying since 1969 and is the same model as the Hercules retired by the Defence Force last year.
A second, newer C-130J plane landed in Vanuatu about 11.30am on Thursday, carrying search and rescue equipment and personnel, including medics and consular staff.
Meanwhile, another ageing C-130H was sent to New Caledonia to pick up urban rescue staff and carry out repairs on the stranded plane.
"At the beginning of the year Collins and Luxon said they were going to invest in the NZDF and at the moment we're not seeing that, so this is an example of why they need to.
"In June we were promised a Defence Capability Plan from this government, didn't come through. They said it would come in October, well that's come and passed. Now this is once again proof we need to take matters seriously - not just for the equipment we use, but for our reputation."
He questioned why the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had sent an older plane in the first place, when two of the newer C-130J had been purchased earlier this year.
"It's a surprise they didn't use the new planes, that's why they were purchased. There will be questions asked about that.
"We already know with what happened to the [sunken Navy vessel] Manawanui and now this incident... It can't look good for the NZDF in the first instance and of course for New Zealand."
Professional Firefighters Union vice president Martin Campbell sympathised with the urban rescue team, which contained many firefighters, who had been delayed by the fault.
"A broken down fleet is not an unknown issue for firefighters... We've got a fleet that breaks down regularly at fire calls and on our way to fire calls, which delays our ability to do our jobs, so I sympathise with the frustrations they must be feeling.
"The delays will be frustrating for them, they want to be able to hit the road running and do the job they're there to do and save as many people as they can."
New Zealand was also sending a Boeing 757 to Vanuatu evacuate stranded tourists.
In a post on Facebook today the Defence Force said crew on a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-8A Poseidon conducted a surveillance flight over key infrastructure sites in the capital Port Vila yesterday, such as the airport, runway and port, as well as the immediate surrounding islands. The crew would conduct another surveillance flight today.
The priority was to save as many lives as possible, and the immediate plan upon arrival was to send drones into the air to survey the area.
"I know everyone's doing their best to get our people in country," Nally told RNZ's Morning Report programme today.
The team was remaining calm, which was important.
"Their main skill is removing people from entrapment and other situations in collapsed buildings."
They could also help with mapping risks for other agencies.
Nally said the team was very experienced and as well as firefighters trained in urban search and rescue, there were engineers, a medic and a doctor.
They had significant experience in rescue operations in New Zealand and overseas, and included members who helped with the Christchurch earthquake recovery.
FENZ was prepared to keep people in Vanuatu and support them there for two weeks.
Death toll expected to climb
Vanuatu Business Resilience Council chair Glen Craig told Morning Report the expectation was that at least 20 people and "hopefully less than 25" had died following Tuesday's quake.
It was not known how many people were in one of the buildings that collapsed or on the road near a major slip.
Up to eight buildings suffered structural failure of which three were pancaked, two with people inside.
Craig said local rescue efforts had focused on the two storey collapsed building in the central city.
The other, a five storey building, was beyond local capabilities, he said.
"We're trying to do as much as we can. We're not geared for a building to collapse - and it's just devastating from that point of view."
The Australian Defence Force arrived yesterday and New Zealand crews were due today.
Craig said the third collapsed building was the one that housed the New Zealand High Commission.
"They were incredibly lucky to be alive. And they've just put that behind them and they're well into response."
The hospital was not coping well and medical support was needed to help with the injured. Power and electricity were back on but communications were still tricky, he said.
New Zealand's Structural Engineering Society president Nicholas Brooke expected the death toll to rise, and said it was likely his colleagues supporting the rescue effort would have to make some tough decisions. These included rapid appraisals of damaged buildings - essentially eyeballing them - and judging whether rescuers were safe to enter.
"Rescuers will inherently want to go in and rescue, and there will be situations where the engineer has to say, 'Well this building's not safe enough, and there's nothing we can do to make safe enough' and put it to the team leader that they shouldn't be entering that building.
"Which will obviously be a pretty tough thing to be doing if you know that there could well be people trapped within it."
Brooke said it was a pressured role to be in - analysis was necessary to keep rescuers safe, but it had to be done incredibly quickly, because getting to trapped or injured people was time critical.
He said the current information suggested Tuesday's earthquake was similar in intensity to the 2011 Christchurch quake that collapsed the CTV building, killing more than 100 people inside.
Based on the footage he had seen in Port Vila, he feared the worst.
"It's likely to be quite a significant tragedy, the expectation may well be that the death toll would increase."
