Defence Force's Waiōuru housing project stalls after Ngāti Rangi deal falls over
Asked what the talks were about, Associate Defence Minister Chris Penk's office said: 'We don't have anything further to add outside of our existing statements currently.'
The Waiōuru Military Camp pictured in 2021. Photo / Bevan Conley
NZDF did not address what the new discussions were about either. It did not respond when asked what had happened to the project and any contract.
RNZ understands its deal with Ngāti Rangi, that underpinned the housing project, fell over at the last minute.
Ngāti Rangi is hosting the National Hautapu Ceremony for Matariki next week at Tirorangi Marae.
The iwi referred RNZ's questions to the NZDF.
It said in 2021: 'Housing is on the top of our priority list. As part of our settlement we have an arrangement with the New Zealand Defence Force out at Waiōuru to build 50 homes. That project we're still working on with NZDF.'
Associate Defence Minister Chris Penk. Photo / RNZ, Samuel Rillstone
Penk told Cabinet colleagues last year NZDF's widespread 'dilapidated' housing was harming military output.
Defence has vacancy rates of about 30% and '10% of personnel leave the NZDF predominantly due to the unsatisfactory working, training and living environments', he said.
Budget 2025 signalled the start of $9 billion in promised new defence spending by 2029, containing about $3b for 15 projects, mostly to do with weapons or IT systems.
However, the Budget provided just a fraction over the next four years to address the billion-dollar backlog in maintenance and renewals that is outstanding; past Cabinet papers gave this figure, and NZDF confirmed on Tuesday its spending on defence regeneration was half a billion dollars behind what the 2019 plan demanded.
In August 2024, Penk expressed shock after seeing photos of black mould in Waiōuru families' homes.
'No family should have to live like that, let alone the families of those who sacrifice so much to serve their country,' he said.
The temperature low in Waiōuru over the past 30 days has been under 1C on 17 days.
Some housing 'poses potential health risks and can cause housing-related stress to ... personnel and their families', and was linked to health conditions like asthma, a Cabinet minute in 2023 said.
The 50-house project was announced as settled a year ago, under the Te Tiriti settlement with Ngāti Rangi seven years ago.
Ruapehu District Mayor Weston Kirton and his council celebrated the deal 11 months ago.
'I don't have any detail, only to say that it seems to be stalled in some shape or form,' Kirton told RNZ on Wednesday.
No building appeared to have taken place – a playground and community park were in the tender, too – and the council was not privy to why, or to Defence talks with iwi.
'The minister should give us an update on what progress there is on the Defence presence in the Waiōuru community,' Kirton said.
NZDF had earlier threatened to shut up shop entirely at the central North Island settlement and head south, so he had been delighted when the settlement secured the army's training area and the housing deal began to firm up.
'It was all go,' Kirton told RNZ.
'They were very excited, they wanted to retain the training area at Waiōuru.
'We were excited, the fact that they were going to put resources back into Waiōuru.'
Ruapehu Mayor Weston Kirton. Photo / RNZ, Angus Dreaver
On Wednesday, Penk initially made no comment at all about Waiōuru, then, when prompted again by RNZ, provided a single line about the 'discussions'.
Shortly before that, in a longer statement, he had said: 'The Government is improving accommodation for our sailors, soldiers and aviators by addressing decades of underinvestment, which has left Defence housing stock in poor condition.'
Penk referred in that statement to projects in Devonport, Trentham and Manawatū, but not Waiōuru, even though Waiōuru had the lion's share of Budget 2023's tranche one funding for housing upgrades.
'The Waiōuru New Build Housing is one of the first projects implemented under the Homes for Families Programme,' said its tender.
Two months ago on Facebook, Penk posted – next to a headline '$12 billion for a stronger NZ' cheering the defence capability plan released in April – that: 'This Government is rebuilding the Defence Force after decades of underfunding.'
'Defence housing, messing and dining spaces are going to benefit from fresh investment.
'Our military personnel deserve healthy and modern spaces to live and rest in while they serve our country.'
The 50-house Waiōuru deal was designed to signal the starter's gun on a half-billion-dollar upgrade of the army camp over the next 25 years, and of an overall $3 billion overhaul of 1600 defence houses countrywide.
Most of those required 'upgrading urgently', past Cabinet papers said.
Penk a year ago told a Cabinet committee the estate was a 'critical enabler of military effect; providing the working, training and living environments required for generating and maintaining defence outputs'.
'The dilapidated condition of the NZDF estate is evident everywhere, but mainly in the living and training environments, and with utilities such as power, water supply and sanitation.'
A 2024 estimate put deferred maintenance at $480m across the estate, which includes houses and other facilities.
Some 'critical' defence assets were so poor in some places that a 'wholesale shutdown of operations at that location may be needed', Penk stated.
The NZDF's annual report a year earlier had said 99% of its houses met Healthy Homes standards.
Asked how that was possible given what Cabinet had been told, NZDF told RNZ: 'Healthy Homes compliance does not address the state of NZDF's barracks or working accommodation and does not necessarily address whether a home is aged, fit for purpose and or in an accelerated state of deterioration.'
Penk had said in August 2024 that funding was constrained but the Government was looking at options for improving the housing.
Earlier, Budget 2024 funded 35 leased homes at Devonport Naval Base.
New initiatives in Budget 2025 funded just $4m of capital and $16m for housing over four years. More would be added 'once the business case is approved by Cabinet', NZDF said.
The business case related to a revision of its 2019 estate regeneration plan to fit a 2024-2040 timeline.
This had to be revised, in part, to 'address consequences of insufficient funding since the 2019 business case', official papers said.
'The business case is still being drafted and Cabinet's decision on it will be released when that occurs in the next couple of months,' it told RNZ.
NZDF mentioned about $30m for upgrades at Devonport Naval base, but this does not appear to be for housing.
Budget 2025 also had $120m for depreciated funding of estate assets. It put $26m into deferred maintenance this year, and $104m over four years, against the $480m backlog.
Penk said in his statement three construction contracts and a future lease agreement had been signed for 61 new homes with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei on Auckland's North Shore, and to lease additional houses in Sunnybrae.
A new tender signalled 'more housing solutions will be sought this year, including at Trentham and in the Manawatū', he said.
Budgets 2023 and 2024 provided $75.4m capital and a total $17.1m over four years, Defence said. This included a renovation pilot for 13 properties at Burnham, Linton and Ohakea.
- RNZ
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scoop
3 hours ago
- Scoop
'System Just Sucks': Political Scientist Says Māori Being Deterred From Voting
Pokere Paewai, Māori issues reporter A Māori political scientist says reports people have been removed from the electoral roll or shifted off the Māori roll could discourage some Māori from voting. Political scientist at Victoria University Lara Greaves was blunt in her assessment of New Zealand's voting system, calling it difficult to navigate, particularly when it comes to updating or changing enrolment details. "This system just sucks," she said. Past surveys have shown that a significant minority of people don't have a good understanding of the electoral system at all, she said. "So I think this whole system is set up in a way that is quite confusing, quite hōhā and quite bureaucratic and a bit annoying overall." Over the last several days social media has been awash with people checking their voter details only to find they are no longer enrolled or that they cannot find their enrolment details. Lloyd is a voter on the general roll, he checked his enrolment status on Thursday was unable to find his details and had to reenrol. He told RNZ it was like there was no record of him at all. "It just seemed very inflexible considering you want everyone to vote ... I hope they get on [and] start advertising and telling people 'please just go and check and you may have to do this from scratch and we're sorry' or something." Lloyd said he has been voting for about 30 years and last checked his voting details prior to the last election in 2023. Adding extra steps to the enrolment process just makes it that much harder, he said. "I just think they should fix the system so it's a little bit smarter and easier." Lloyd's kōrero follows that of Taryn Utiger, who told RNZ she had been put on the dormant roll despite updating her enrolment details three weeks prior. "They were like, yup ka pai you're on the Māori electorate roll, everything's good to go you will be able to vote in the local body elections and the referendum. I was like cool, thought that was the end of it, everything confirmed. Then I logged in last night and nothing." Greaves said there are realistic barriers between Māori enrolling to vote, including a lack of knowledge among poll workers about the Māori roll and a legacy of colonisation that has discouraged Māori from participating in the electoral system. "We know that there are barriers out there, and the barriers and perception of barriers do cause lower trust, lower trust in democracy. We go back decades and we can see that there have been a lot of barriers for Māori voters," she said. "All of this is contributing to a culture where people think 'hey why would I even bother voting they don't want my vote.'" Greaves said as the facilitator of New Zealand's democracy the Electoral Commission needs to be sufficiently staffed, especially in its IT department. "Could we just invest in an IT system, could we invest in a computer system, could we invest in more people on the ground and get better results. Democracy does need money, it does need investment, it does need personnel to run it and that doesn't seem to be the case at the moment." When a system has inequities those inequities tend to affect Māori, Pacific people and migrant communities more, she said. The Electoral Commission have said there were no technical issues with their online system. Its deputy chief executive of operation Anusha Guler said it was likely some people had been moved to the "dormant roll" because they had not got in contact with the commission for sometime. According to the Electoral Commission 2023 General Election Report, the dormant roll contains voters who have been removed from the main roll for their electorate because they no longer live at an address and have not updated their enrolment details. At the election, there were 96,406 people on the dormant roll and of those, 86 percent were on the general dormant roll while 14 percent were on the Māori dormant roll. Between 31 July and the 2023 election day, just under 78,000 people moved from dormant rolls to the main roll. Speaking to media yesterday, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said he was also concerned but the Electoral Commission had said there was no issue and if people were experiencing them, they should contact the commission directly.
Scoop
7 hours ago
- Scoop
What Officials Said About Pay Equity Changes
Article – RNZ Treasury documents show the pay equity reset was key to meeting the coalition's cost-cutting goals., Political Reporter The minister who ushered through the pay equity changes said any limitations on workers' rights were justified in order to reduce the risks to employers. A document dump from the Treasury and the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE) showed the processes the government went through to change the pay equity framework, and then return contingency funding to the Budget allowances. Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden, who introduced the legislation, acknowledged the changes would likely be contentious, but were necessary to meet the government's policy objectives of keeping a pay equity system, while changing the framework for assessing whether there is sex-based undervaluation. The government worked on the changes in secret, before announcing the amendment bill in May and passing it under urgency. At the Budget, Finance Minister Nicola Willis revealed the changes had saved $12.8 billion over the forecast period. 'This is justified' – Brooke van Velden The short timeframe to get the bill passed before the Budget meant there had been 'limited testing and analysis' of the policy proposals, and the retrospective provisions in the bill were 'inconsistent' with general principles. MBIE acknowledged the transitional provisions would likely be 'contentious' but without them it was unlikely the amendments would 'meet the policy objective of ensuring the regime achieves pay equity, whilst better managing claims, and ensuring costs are related to sex-based differences in remuneration.' The legal risks remained redacted, and the bill had no Regulatory Impact Statement. The process was also kept secret to prevent a surge of claims being lodged and potentially determined under the existing Employment Relations Act. The acting Attorney-General, Paul Goldsmith's consideration of the bill concluded that while it imposed limits on the right to freedom from discrimination, the right to justice, and freedom of expression, it was still consistent with the Bill of Rights Act. The paper van Velden took to Cabinet for approval, included in MBIE's document dump, shows she considered any limitations on the rights to be justified. 'I consider that this is justified to meet the policy intent of allowing employers to better manage their operations, reducing potential risks to an employer's financial viability, which may lead to a reduction in employment or the quality or quantity of services provided,' van Velden wrote. Finding the contingencies In December 2023, shortly after assuming the government benches, the finance minister requested more information on how the pay equity forecasts worked and whether there were any upcoming large claims. In February 2024, the Treasury reported back, saying the approach brought in by the previous government had contributed to higher cost outcomes, as it disincentivised agencies and funded sector employers from taking a lower-cost bargaining approach. 'While the current Pay Equity process does require agencies to seek a bargaining contingency prior to the bargaining phase, this occurs late in the process, and many of the potential parameters for settlement are already largely agreed between the parties,' officials said. 'The absence of financial incentives during the pre-bargaining phase may have contributed to agencies adopting approaches which exceed the minimum requirements of the Equal Pay Act, for example, agreeing to higher paid comparators when lower paid ones would be appropriate.' It also meant the Cabinet had 'poor visibility' of the costs, until parties were at or near settlement. Treasury said pay equity costs were managed outside of Budget allowances, and there was merit in exploring an approach that brought some or all of the costs back within Budget allowances. By April 2024, Cabinet had agreed to a reset, bringing pay equity funding into two centralised tagged contingencies: one for the funded sector, the other for the public sector. This still allowed the government to meet its legal obligations as an employer, but was deemed to support the coalition's fiscal strategy. However, by the end of 2024, the government was looking to disestablish the funded sector contingency, identifying it as a significant spending commitment. It expected service providers to manage their own claims, with any cost pressures they created managed like any other cost pressure: through the Budget process. How the money was found Nicola Willis chose to close the funded sector contingency and return the funding to the Budget 2025 allowance and capital allowance. This saved $9.6b over the forecast period. For the public sector contingency, Treasury recommended it be retained, but at a reduced level. 'On balance, we consider retaining the contingency at [redacted] for residual costs to protect future allowances to be preferable given the legal obligations on the Crown as an employer under the new Act and Treasury's judgment that we can quantify the impacts with more than 50 percent confidence,' Treasury wrote. The government adopted this approach, with the tagged public sector contingency reduced by $3.2b over the forecast period. In total, the changes returned around $12.8b to the Budget 2025 operating and capital allowances. Closing or reducing the contingencies without some certainty from Cabinet on policy change, however, was seen to potentially 'strain the credibility' of future Budget allowances. And so, the future approach to pay equity was developed. Van Velden's legislation discontinued 33 claims and increased the threshold for what qualified as work that was 'predominantly performed by female employees.' All review clauses under settled claims became unenforceable.
Scoop
7 hours ago
- Scoop
Henry Puna Calls New Zealand's Involvement In Cook Islands Politics ‘Improper'
Article – RNZ The former Cook Islands prime minister says the 'special nature' of the relationship between the two nations must be 'underpinned by respect'. Caleb Fotheringham, in Rarotonga Former Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna says he thinks it is 'improper' for New Zealand to involve itself in the 'domestic affairs' of the island nation and issues between the two countries should be resolved behind closed doors. Puna has become the new president of the Cook Islands Party, the same party that Prime Minister Mark Brown leads. When asked whether he became president of the party because of the current state of the relationship between the Cook Islands and New Zealand governments, Puna said his interest was domestic, 'to see the Cook Islands Party become stronger and remain united'. Foreign Minister Winston Peters has challenged Brown to hold an independence referendum' following agreements the Cook Islands signed with China in February that Wellington feels it was not consulted on. Puna said Peters' comments are in the minds of the Cook Islands people. 'Given the special nature of our relationship with New Zealand, it must be underpinned by respect. 'I think it is a bit improper for New Zealand to be involving themselves into our domestic affairs. I don't think that is respectful of our relationship' Puna said he wants the Cook Islands and New Zealand to talk about 'these slight complications' in private. He said it 'was a bit tough' that New Zealand paused $18.2m in development funding last month while meetings between foreign officials were still taking place but said it was New Zealand's call. Puna said the Cook Islands Comprehensive Strategic Partnership was very similar to a partnership agreement New Zealand signed with China in 2014. 'So really, there is nothing unusual about it, but you will also notice that security is not an issue in that agreement, for obvious reasons.' When asked why it was obvious, Puna said the Cook Islands was mindful of New Zealand's and its other partners security concerns. But he added that security in the traditional sense is not a big issue for Pacific leaders. 'For us, security really is about being safe from the effects of climate change, and not with the traditional army, armed activities, that New Zealand and the others are concerned about.' Puna said he 'would have quite happily signed [the agreements with China]' if he was in Brown's place and he signed a similar agreement, while also making a state visit in 2013. He said there are opportunities with China. One is the Cook Islands and China are halving the cost of a $6m interisland vessel. 'Our government raised that with New Zealand years ago, and it was flatly rejected that, you know, they wouldn't help,' Puna said. The New Zealand government has said the Cook Islands can not have United Nations membership while it remains in free association. It was something Puna wanted while he was prime minister and for a period it was floated by Brown. 'I had a conversation with the legal office of the United Nations, who told me quite openly that, in their view, we were qualified to be admitted as a member of the UN,' Puna said. 'But given our special relationship with New Zealand, I decided to raise the issue with Prime Minister John Key and the officials in Wellington at the time, their response was very clear. They didn't agree with it, so we didn't push it.' The Cook Islands is currently celebrating 60 years of self-governance in free association with New Zealand. Puna said he was proud of where the country has come. He said a major achievement over the past 60-years was building the international airport. It unlocked tourism in the country, which underpins the economy. For the future, Puna wants the economy to be the focus. 'Everything else will fall into place and I'm confident that we have the makings of, you know, a growing and a sound economy…these nights watching our young ones on the stage at the auditorium, performing with pride. I have a lot of confidence in our future, in the hands of our young people.'
