Amy Adams

Wellington, May 6 NZPA - National MP Amy Adams will be all at sea for two days next week, joining the crew of HMNZS Pukaki on a patrol and training mission.

Ms Adams, the MP for Selwyn, will be the first participant in the Defence Force parliamentarian scheme, which embeds MPs into the army, navy or air force to give them an inside view into how the force operates.

She said she had no direct experience as to how service men and women train, or the range of tasks they carried out, and was excited to be the first MP on the scheme.

"We owe it to (the military) to get a better understanding of the challenges they face," she said.

From Monday, she will spend three days at Devonport Naval Base in Auckland, doing a full range of naval trades and training.

Then she will put to sea -- spending two days on patrol and training, sailing from Mt Maunganui to Gisborne.

Parliamentary schemes exist in Britain and Australia, and Ms Adams and Defence Minister Wayne Mapp had been keen to develop one here.

"We ask a lot of our defence personnel," Dr Mapp said.

"This scheme allows the people that make the decisions about how we use our military to get first-hand knowledge of what they can do."

Other MPs will be invited to participate as operational commitments allowed, Dr Mapp said.