Jeez
Gnadenburg, as has been pointed out, ad nauseum, most if not all Kiwis are completely fecked off at the Labour government for not upgrading the stike arm, and of course disbanding it. We all feel that we are not doing our bit, and it certainly ticks me off, and no, I would not, and have never, voted labour. Point05 is quite right, and its name is Helen.....
You say "An RNZAF A4 could have done the same job" with respect to the Aussie SAS ground operations being supported by the RAF. So then, why is it ok for the RAF to provide the Aussie SAS with ground support, but you bag the Kiwis when the yanks or RAF do the same for us? Where is your own RAAF then? Are they operating there? When a call comes for ground attack operations, it is a joint command decision, whatever assets are available at the time are sent, they don't hold off until the RAAF can come and bomb the ragheads just cause some grunt from Oz is holding the laser.