14 August 2007

Lavs Busy Going Nowhere - Mark

New Zealand First defence spokesman Ron Mark has once again condemned the government’s purchase of 105 light armoured vehicles (LAVs) for the New Zealand Army, as recent figures on their use show that many of the vehicles have barely moved in almost three years.

“If you take a fairly low benchmark of 9,000 kms for a three year period, i.e. 3000 kms a year, you will find that only 29 of the 105 LAVs have so far gone over that distance,” said Mr Mark.

“Four LAVs have done less than a hundred kms, and these are not even the ones in mothballs at Trentham, but ones assigned to Burnham Camp. In all, 12 of the LAVs, which cost the taxpayer a total of $758 million, have done less than 1000 kms in the whole period.

“One has actually put only 12 kms on the clock since 2004, and had its engine running for less than 45 minutes. Did they use it to pop out to the shops?” asked Mr Mark.

“This just further confirms why the then Minister of Defence Mark Burton should have listened to the Secretary of Defence, Graham Fortune, and Chief of Defence Force, Air Marshall Kerry Adamson, when they recommended the government should only purchase 54, instead of listening to Major General Dodson who wanted 105.

“Given the most generous assessment of these figures, even 54 would have been too many.

“Clearly we bought more toys than we have boys (or girls) to drive them. Maybe the fact that privates are starting on a base rate of pay that is barely above the minimum wage, (calculated on an unlikely 40 hour week), the situation might be different,” concluded Mr Mark.

ENDS

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