![\"Defence](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/defence-minister-paul-goldsmith-DTADG7M57FFC5PQAXNZWWKMDFY.jpg\")
<\/p>\nNew Zealand Defence Force chief Air Marshal Tony Davies has resigned over an “inappropriate relationship” he’d had while he was in a position of unit command.<\/p>\n
A statement from the Defence Force today said Davies had informed Defence Minister Paul Goldsmith of his decision to step down. <\/p>\n
Arrangements were underway to transition responsibilities to the Vice Chief of the Defence Force, Rear Admiral Mat Williams, who will serve as Acting Chief of Defence Force, the statement said.<\/p>\n
Air Marshal Tony Davies resigns over an \u201cinappropriate relationship\u201d while in command of his unit. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
“The resignation is for personal reasons, and results from errors of judgement made by me in the past, for which I am taking responsibility. The errors of judgement were contrary to the values of the Defence Force,” Davies said in the statement.<\/p>\n
“These matters revolved around an inappropriate relationship I had when in a position of unit command, and I regret not disclosing this when I had the opportunity to do so.”<\/p>\n
Davies said his focus was on his family at this time, and asked for privacy. <\/p>\n
‘A disappointment’ \u2013 Goldsmith<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Defence Minister Paul Goldsmith. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
Also in a statement this afternoon, Goldsmith confirmed he had been informed of Davies’ decision to resign, effective immediately. <\/p>\n
“The reasons regarding his decision relate to integrity matters, that he did not previously disclose. We both agree his position is no longer tenable,” Goldsmith said.<\/p>\n
“I will be recommending to the Governor-General that she accepts Mr Davies\u2019 resignation.”<\/p>\n
He continued: “I acknowledge his 42 years of service and his contribution to the New Zealand Defence Force, but note the circumstances of his resignation will be a great disappointment to the men and women of the Defence Force.”<\/p>\n
The Chief of Army, Major General Rose King, will act as Chief of Defence Force until Sunday before Williams takes on the role.<\/p>\n
The Defence Force has referred the matter to the Inspector-General of Defence. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand Defence Force chief Air Marshal Tony Davies has resigned over an “inappropriate relationship” he’d had while…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1403,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-639481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-defence","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}