The Mapp Report
www.waynemapp.co.nz

Navy Housing: What is the Future?

The recently announced settlement with Ngati Whatua raises some serious questions. They must be answered if the community is to have any confidence about the future of the Navy housing in North Shore.

There has been uncertainty about the Navy housing for several years. The Ministry of Defence has not been forthcoming about its plans. They certainly kept the community in the dark about negotiations with Ngati Whatua. The newspaper reports do not tell the full story. It is said that Ngati Whatua would pay $80 million as a full market payment for the Navy housing. In Parliament this week, the government officials said the land was valued at $160 million, so $80 million hardly seems like a fair market price. It also makes this settlement much larger than the $80 million that was reported in the newspaper.

The payment is spread over 35 years. The way this was represented is that the gross rental that Ngati Whatua is entitled to will be forgone and this would be a full payment. In practical terms, 35 years from now, Ngati Whatua will be given the housing without any liabilities. It is certainly not a normal commercial deal.

The Ministry of Defence apparently will lease the housing for the next 35 years. All of this raises quite a number of questions:

a.. Does the title to the Navy housing land transfer to Ngati Whatua immediately upon settlement, or is it deferred for the 35 years until payment is complete?

b.. What management role does Ngati Whatua have upon settlement?

c.. Does the Ministry of Defence intend to continue improving the housing?

d.. What will happen to Wakakura Crescent – where the previous flats have been demolished and the land is awaiting development?

e.. Will the Ministry of Defence continue to lease all the Navy houses throughout the next 35 years?

I have asked the Minister of Defence these questions in Parliament.

The answers are crucial if we are to know what this settlement means for the
North Shore community.

The Navy wants to keep at least some housing over the next 35 years. The ANZAC frigates and the vessels currently being constructed will have finished their service by then. New ships are likely to have much smaller crews due to increased automation. That has been the trend with each new class of vessel. The Leander frigates have 260 crew; while the ANZAC frigates have 160. The US is now building destroyers twice the size of the ANZAC frigates with only 100 crew. It is possible the Navy frigate of 2040 might only have 30 or 40 people. What will be the future of the Navy housing then? If the Navy doesn’t need as much housing, what will Ngati Whatua do with the housing and the land in the future – sell it, lease it, re-develop it?

Thanks to Glenn from Bob Clarkson’s electorate office for sending me the following from their local Chamber of Commerce magazine “Enterprise” -

BILL GATES ON PC (POLITICALLY CORRECT) EDUCATION

Bill Gates knows a thing or two.

The Microsoft mogul has a thought – or 11 – on education. He believes feel good, politically correct teachings have created a generation of kids with no concept of reality. This has set them up for failure in the real world. In a speech at an American high school he spoke about the 11 things they (kids) did not, and will not, learn in school.

Rule 1: Life is not fair – get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes, and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents’ generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answers. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.

15 June 2006

Dr Wayne Mapp

Visit my website for more information at: www.waynemapp.co.nz

ENDS

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