Latest news with #DefenceForce
RNZ News
a day ago
- Climate
- RNZ News
Weather live: Severe weather lashes parts of North Island, flooding, state of emergency in South Island regions
Marlborough Emergency Management has issued a 'be ready to evacuate' warning for residents in the Lower Terrace area in Renwick. The council's hydrology team had been modelling on a stopbank at the confluence of the Waihopai/Wairau rivers and determined the bank had become unstable, Incident Controller Richard MacNamara said. This poses a risk of breaking and flooding lower parts of Renwick township (Lower Terrace) and surrounding land adjacent to Gibson's Creek and up to the Waihopai/Wairau confluence. "We are taking the precaution of advising residents of Lower Terrace to be prepared to evacuate," MacNamara said, adding that the Defence Force, FENZ and Marlborough's Rapid Response team would be door knocking in the area. Meanwhile, a "significant number" of people in Nelson have chosen to evacuate, according to Nelson Tasman Civil Defence. "While we did assist some people from their homes there have been a significant number of people who have felt uncomfortable enough that they've self-evacuated," information manager Paul Shattock said. Smaller rivers were a major area of concern. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday. Photo: Kate Green
NZ Herald
2 days ago
- Politics
- NZ Herald
Thousands of vacancies across the Defence Force after record attrition
Record levels of attrition in the Defence Force has resulted in thousands of vacancies across the board, raising concerns New Zealand's military isn't combat-ready. Data released under the Official Information Act shows there were 3066 regular force positions and 728 civilian roles vacant as of the end of March.
West Australian
2 days ago
- Business
- West Australian
Defence warns Australia is vulnerable to China on critical minerals
A senior military officer has warned Australia's defence is vulnerable to China's monopoly on critical minerals and that resources exports out of WA could be stopped if tensions boil over into conflict in our region. Major General Jason Walk, head of Defence's national support division, warned government and resource sector representatives that civilian and military cooperation had to overcome serious deficiencies and vulnerabilities to ensure Australia could cope with any conflict. Defence is making preparations akin to those leading up to and during World War II in response to increasing competition between the US and China in the Indo-Pacific, although there isn't any inevitable pathway to conflict. But there was 'no dedicated bag of gold' for the work, which would take innovative thinking and closer coordination to make it happen, Major General Walk told the Pilbara Summit on Thursday. His warning comes after Chief of the Defence Force David Johnston said Australia needed to start preparing for homeland combat operations . Major General Walk recalled that in the years before WWII broke out, the government established a small economic cabinet to deal with wartime economic policy, working alongside the war cabinet, on efforts such as reducing dependence on overseas imports by encouraging domestic production of essential goods. Similar work is happening now. Australia's local supply of critical minerals gave it a strong strategic advantage, but it was vulnerable because it lacked capacity to do much more than dig them up, Major General Walk said. 'China's dominance over critical material supply chains leaves us exposed to any actions taken by them to restrict access,' he said, citing antimony as an example. 'Defence has a range of capabilities that require this mineral. Antimony is mined here in Australia, but is then exported to be refined and brought back to Australia to be manufactured into products in which we are global leaders.' Dealing with these gaps in supply chains would reduce strategic dependencies but also give opportunities for growth and geopolitical leverage. He backed the Department of Industry, Science and Resources' work on a critical minerals strategic reserve and government investment in processing facilities. Defence is already involved in a whole-of-government effort to secure critical minerals supply chains. It's also looking at ports and airports across the Pilbara and thinking about how to mobilise the workforce that will be required. 'Crisis through geostrategic tension or conflict may be disruptive and include, for example, a pause to mining exports,' Major General Walk warned. On top of this, there are 'severe risks, deficiencies and vulnerabilities that would prevent, hinder or seriously affect Defence's capacity and capability to build a defence presence in this (Pilbara) region'. Major General Walk issued a call to industry to start looking at where it could support national security efforts or how it might be able to lend expertise or pivot operations during a crisis. He cited the distillers who switched to making hand sanitiser during COVID, and the initiatives of BHP head Essington Lewis during WWII to stockpile materials for munitions and speed up plane-building. 'What is the hand sanitiser equivalent of the mining sector?' he asked, suggesting Defence could call on mines across northern WA to convert diesel storage into jet fuel storage. 'In describing this work and proposing there is further opportunity for collaboration, I wish to emphasise this does not come without challenge. 'There has been no dedicated bag of gold assigned to this work. It therefore demands innovation to explore where opportunity resides.'
Scoop
3 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
'Once-in-a-generation' National Infrastructure Plan sets vision for next 30 years
The draft National Infrastructure Plan is challenging the government to "lift its game" on project planning, saying it has often been "short-term and reactive". The strategy has been developed by the infrastructure commission, Te Waihanga, laying out the key areas in need of attention over the next three decades. Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop acknowledged the invocation and said the recommendations aligned with the government's priorities. Bishop cited the proposed shift towards user-pays, spatial planning, and better asset management and maintenance. "The government is determined to improve New Zealand's infrastructure system and to work alongside the industry and other political parties to establish a broad consensus about what needs to change," he said. The commission's chief executive Geoff Cooper said New Zealand spent a greater percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) on infrastructure compared to other high-income countries, but was in the bottom 10 percent for the value from that spend. "To ensure New Zealanders are getting the infrastructure services they need, it's critical that we get smarter about how we invest," he said. "A National Infrastructure Plan can help, showing where our infrastructure dollar will have the greatest impact in meeting New Zealand's future needs." The plan contains a "Priorities Programme List" of 17 projects, six of which relate to the Defence Force. As well, it endorses the upgrade of the Reserve Bank's cash centre and vault, and the redevelopment of Hawke's Bay Regional Prison. The commission said more investment would be needed over the next three decades in hospitals and electricity, while changes would be required in land transport investment. The draft plan laid out a litany of problems with the existing approach, including that infrastructure projects were announced before establishing whether they were affordable or achievable. "Half of the large projects seeking funding through central government's annual Budget lack business cases to demonstrate that they're ready to fund. "Maintenance funds, which should provide a steady, ongoing stream of work, may get diverted to new builds. Consequently, efforts to recruit, develop, and retain a skilled workforce are stretched" It said New Zealand needed to get smarter about infrastructure planning, and suggested easing the regulatory environment or taking a "more commercial approach". "It's time to start fixing up our essential infrastructure assets, rather than seeing them breaking under our feet because we didn't set aside money for maintenance. "It's time to invest in infrastructure that will lift our productivity and cut our carbon emissions. "It's time to do new projects right, rather than dreaming big and seeing them constantly delayed, rescoped, and cancelled because they're too big for us to afford." The plan will now go out for consultation with a final version to be published by the end of the year. Speaking at a symposium at Parliament on Wednesday morning, Bishop said the independent plan would succeed only if it was accepted and adopted by successive governments. "This is not the... coalition government's plan, this is New Zealand's plan. We will all be better off if we follow its recommendations," Bishop said. He also use his speech to take a whack at "14 laggard councils" which had not yet lodged bids with the infrastructure pipeline. "I'm going to be writing to them, saying that they need to get on board," Bishop said. "My own view is we do need to get away from the rhetoric of needing a bipartisan pipeline, and instead we need to start talking about building bipartisan consensus on the idea that governments of all flavours should use best-practice to plan, select, fund and finance, deliver, and look after our infrastructure." Infrastructure New Zealand chief executive Nick Leggett described the plan as a "once-in-a-generation" opportunity. "The draft Plan is a clear-eyed assessment of the infrastructure challenges facing New Zealand, our historic under-performance and provides a solid pathway for improvement, particularly from our government agencies," he said. "If we don't face up to this now, there will be real pain for our future generations." Leggett said the association particularly supported the design of a "steady project pipeline" to allow providers to invest in their workforce. Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the plan was a welcome contribution. "If we can agree some shared priorities, we can avoid this flip-flopping cycle where everything just takes too long and costs too much." Hipkins expected there were some assumptions in the plan that would be tested over the consultation process, and there would still be some debate over who pays for what. "Even in transport, we have partial user-pays for public transport at the moment. There's probably going to be some differences between Labour and National, in particular about where we think the balance of that should rest."
Newsroom
3 days ago
- Business
- Newsroom
Why agreeing on infrastructure priorities matters to sick kids
Analysis: First, Erin Speedy shed tears of frustration, trying to bring up her children in a cold military house at Waiouru. It was damp, it was mouldy, and her children suffered respiratory infections. Then, she stopped crying and picked up a pen. Speedy, the wife of an army corporal, published an open letter to the Defence Minister at Newsroom Pro. 'I ask you minister, have you visited one of your military camps to speak to those on the ground? Do you truly understand the sacrifices we make as families?' That was in May last year. The following month, the Defence Force advertised for a builder to begin work on 50 new homes, along with a park and playground, at the Waiouru camp – but still nothing happened. Then in this year's Budget, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced $16 million to lease better homes, while designing fit-for-purpose modern homes for personnel and their families. And this week, the NZ Infrastructure Commission publishes its first, groundbreaking draft National Infrastructure Plan, in which it endorses 17 projects as priorities. The big winner is the Defence Force, whose nine bases and camps have been green lit for big upgrades, especially to troop and family accommodation. Defence infrastructure general manager Phil Gurnsey says the endorsements reflect the national significance of future investment in the defence estate, and benefits to the NZ people, economy and security. 'It gives ministers further assurance that our investment aligns with national objectives.' According to the commission's assessment, which has been provided at Newsroom's request, the Defence Force provides about 1800 houses to 1400 regular force members – but those houses are more than 60 years old, in poor condition, and require upgrading urgently to improve poor conditions and to meet Healthy Homes legislation. 'Endorsement as a national infrastructure priority at Stage 2 indicates that this is a priority proposal, which can progress to a detailed business case to identify a preferred option,' the assessment says. 'Monetising the costs and benefits of options where possible would significantly strengthen the case.' Infrastructure Commission chief executive Geoff Cooper says the Defence Force was able to quantify its problems, provide proportionate solutions, and demonstrate how they'd worked through the options to get there. Essentially, he explains to Newsroom, this evidence-based endorsement is intended to take key infrastructure projects out of the political bear-pit, so the construction sector, international investors and all New Zealanders can be confident the country's priorities won't chop and change with every change of government. The Defence Force Homes for Family programme and Devonport naval base regeneration have both been endorsed to stage 2; its plans to build new Linton army camp barracks and upgrade Ohakea air force base have been endorsed to stage 3. 'When we endorse a project to stage 3, the advice is, we think this one's ready to go,' Cooper says. KiwiRail and the NZ Transport Agency have been less successful. The commission has released to Newsroom a list of the 31 applications that have not achieved even stage 1 endorsement, at this stage. Most are the pipe dreams of individual activists and lobby groups, but among them are the Auckland Strategic Rail Programme, and the Marsden Point Rail Link, as well as highway upgrades from Tauranga through to the Desert Road. Let's highlight one major concern identified in this first draft plan, and one solution. The concern is New Zealand's utter inability to get bang for its buck from capital spending. In the last decade, this country invested more public capital in infrastructure, as a share of GDP, than any other country in the OECD – yet it ranked 37th on the efficiency of that investment. As the problems with our drinking water and wastewater networks have shown, we're putting money into vote-winning glamour projects while failing to fund basic maintenance and renewals. The OECD ranks New Zealand fourth-to-last for asset management practices, the report says. Cooper sees that, as a runner, getting out and about. 'I've been in Wellington now for about five years, and the first thing that strikes you when you run around Wellington is just that there's water everywhere. And that's what happens when leakage rates are in the order of 40 to 50 percent.' How does that manifest? 'That looks like schools with leaking roofs, lessons taught in rotting buildings; sewage leaks in our hospitals; mouldy, poor quality defence accommodation; service outages of commuter rail and ferries; and police stations with black mould, leaks, and asbestos. We can do better.' The commission points to fragmented planning, regulatory inefficiencies, complex approval processes and suboptimal use of existing assets. It warns politicians against repeatedly changing key rules such as resource management legislation, and energy market and emissions reduction policies. These changes disrupt investment. Infrastructure providers hold off until policy settles down, leading to a backlog of investment and extra congestion on networks. Nick Leggett, the chief executive of the infrastructure industry body, goes further. 'This report is candid and honest about the poor bang for the buck that we get from infrastructure,' he says. 'When you have a whole lot of projects planned and the sector is geared up to deliver them, and then they're cancelled because of political change, and you have to make a whole lot of people redundant – and then the tap gets turned on again two years later, and you've got to bring everybody back … that's what costs us the money. So that's why pipeline certainty is so important.' Who's to blame for this inefficiency? 'Pipeline uncertainty costs us between $2.3 billion and $4.7 billion a year. The private sector will price a lack of certainty and clarity into a job.' Surely, the infrastructure and construction sector itself must bear some responsibility for using the investment more efficiently? 'The sector could bring more to the table, yes, absolutely.' Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop agrees politicians and the sector need to work together. He says the Government is determined to work alongside the industry and other political parties to establish a broad consensus about what needs to change. A key solution (beyond maintaining our existing infrastructure!) is user-pricing. The draft plan recommends user charges fully fund investment, guide efficient use of networks, and distribute the benefits of network provision. New Zealanders will soon see that rolling out in, for instance, water metering in pretty much every district, the tolling of new highways, and time-of-use charges starting on Auckland's roads. When I press Cooper on this recommendation, he acknowledges that the commission isn't saying all infrastructure should pay its own way. For instance, he wouldn't argue that cyclists should bear the full cost of cycleways, or that EV owners should pay higher road user charges because their heavy cars cause more wear and tear. But these are discussions worth having, he agrees. Social infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and the defence estate are also public goods that shouldn't be funded through user charges. Clearly, it would be hard to demand that families struck by storms and other natural disasters should have to pay the military to evacuate them from their rooftops. Which brings us back to the Defence estate. Erin Speedy has now founded advocacy group Mission Homefront. 'It does make me a little bit emotional,' she says. 'I mean, if these projects go ahead, it's going to make a huge difference to the quality of life on so many Defence personnel and their whānau. Successive governments have made the Defence estate a political kicking ball.' Both sides of Parliament agree on the value of the Infrastructure Commission drawing up an evidence-led pipeline of priorities, so that key long-term infrastructure decisions can be removed from the cynical cut and thrust of electioneering. 'It's really heartening to see an independent commission recognise the desperate and dire need that something needs to be done, and urgently,' Speedy says. 'It absolutely does need to be taken out of the bear pit and depoliticised.'
