The government's accused of being asleep at the wheel, as our troops prepare for a deployment in Iraq.

The Prime Minister first appeared not to know our soldiers were training in Australia, later saying he misheard the question.

Now Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee says he'd already flagged this possibility before Christmas, so having it announced by Australian media isn't an oversight.

New Zealand First defence spokesperson Ron Mark says that's not right, as before Christmas we were still being told New Zealand wasn't going to Iraq.

"He denied all that, refuted strenuously that there was any deployment training for Iraq happening at all last year."

Ron Mark says ministers are contradicting themselves, and it's worrying.

"I would actually like to think the Minister of Defence knows what the hell is going on with his own Defence Force. Either he doesn't, or he's just being tricky for political reasons."