Defence Minister Ron Mark says soldiers will bring more authority to quarantine facilities, which security guards have lacked.
He is welcoming the deployment of more soldiers at the managed isolation facilities, saying it is something his party, New Zealand First, has been calling for.
Soldiers have no power to detain or arrest people who try to escape facilities, but Mark says they have soft power and will ensure the facilities are running safely.
"The military have learned over many, many years of of deployments and peacekeeping operations. the use of soft power," he told Morning Report.
"The ability to convince people and be able to manage people using a little bit of maturity and wisdom and communication, encouraging people to do the right thing by appealing to them."
