Defence Minister Ron Mark says the problems at the Canterbury base are a demonstration of the wider infrastructure problems dogging the NZ Defence Force’s property and facilities around the country – some of which date back to World War I.
In an October 3 email sent around the Burnham base and viewed by Newsroom, camp commandant Major Grant Payton said wastewater being released onto the paddocks after treatment was potentially affecting the water quality for private bores downstream.
Camp personnel had been asked to keep minimising their water use “while we investigate longer-term solutions to dispose of the camp’s wastewater”.
Residents using bore water at three properties downstream of the Burnham camp had been asked by the Selwyn District Council to boil their drinking water, while they also had access to the council’s water supply.
However, camp personnel had been asked to keep minimising their water use “while we investigate longer-term solutions to dispose of the camp’s wastewater”.
“What most people don’t seem to realise is every base is a small town, every base commander is effectively a mayor… “We’ve got exactly the same infrastructure issues inside the Defence Force as every local government has – the problem is we’ve got to government and get the money, we can’t tax people.” Successive governments had underfunded the defence estate, despite some of the buildings being in the same condition as when he was a soldier in the 1970s.
We, just like local government, just like central government, have to ramp up our capability and that requires money.” Mark acknowledged it was challenging to make the case for extra defence funding, given shortfalls in other areas, but said he was already making the case ahead of the process for next year’s Budget.
“As a country we sort of prioritise our [defence] spending…and that’s got to be carefully managed between updating and getting new equipment, investment into personnel, and of course into property.” The last government had started work on a “massive programme” to identify and prioritise new investment into the defence estate through its Defence White Paper, he said.
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