{"id":538909,"date":"2026-07-22T17:02:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T17:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/538909\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T17:02:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T17:02:17","slug":"does-the-defence-force-have-enough-fuel-for-war-or-disaster-authorities-wont-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/538909\/","title":{"rendered":"Does the Defence Force have enough fuel for war or disaster? Authorities won\u2019t say"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe \u014chakea Fuels Precinct is not yet in full operational use,\u201d Defence told RNZ this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe facility will be fully operational in the first quarter of next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

That would be nine years since the project came across Cabinet\u2019s radar in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u014chakea, near Palmerston North, and Whenuapai Base in Auckland hold a lot of fuel for the RNZAF.<\/p>\n

In addition, \u014chakea also serves as a coordination and logistics fuelling hub for all-of-government responses to civil emergencies, such as natural disasters, and as a \u201cnational strategic fuel reserve\u201d, a 2023 Cabinet committee paper said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Increasing risks\u2019<\/p>\n

But the fuel precinct had got to the point it posed \u201csignificant and increasing risks\u201d, said the 2023 paper. The risks were not specified.<\/p>\n

Defence refused to detail the state of its fuel reserves to RNZ.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor security reasons, NZDF does not disclose details of its fuel holdings or how they are managed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Its own strategies, newly revised this year, demand it can \u201cwithstand shocks\u201d and operate over extended periods.<\/p>\n

\"DefenceDefence Minister Chris Penk. Photo \/ RNZ , Samuel Rillstone<\/p>\n

RNZ asked Defence Minister Chris Penk if he has sought assurances that Defence had enough fuel for a conflict or disaster but his office said it was an operational matter and he had nothing to add to what the NZDF had said.<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s fuel response plan<\/a> for the Iran war puts defence and lifeline utilities in the first of five prioritisation bands, Band A for \u201clife-supporting services \u2013 uncapped supply\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2018Lack of funding\u2019<\/p>\n

In 2020 Cabinet was told \u201cinfrastructure across the base has fallen into a state of disrepair\u201d, including fuelling and logistics.<\/p>\n

This was even as the demands on \u014chakea rose \u2013 so the Government moved to accelerate an overall upgrade, with the fuel precinct put in the top priority basket.<\/p>\n

About $200 million was earmarked just for \u014chakea.<\/p>\n

However, by 2025 the whole base overhaul covering two dozen projects worth about half a billion was in trouble, rated \u2018red\u2019 or at-risk \u201cdue to the lack of funding\u201d.<\/p>\n

Reports showed it being \u201cde-scoped and deferred\u201d. Defence earlier said it could leave out single living accommodation, a logistics warehouse, and an explosives storehouse to save money but a Cabinet committee in 2023 did not agree.<\/p>\n

RNZ revealed in 2024<\/a> how the \u014chakea overhaul missed out getting another $200m.<\/p>\n

Nationally, work to maintain critical parts of the Defence estate got about $100m in Budget 2025 over four years. On top of that are capital outlays for new regional supply facilities at the Burnham and Linton army camps.<\/p>\n

The top risks around the \u014chakea fuel precinct in March 2025 included changes to design or \u201cinaccuracies\u201d over the quantities of materials required that \u201chave caused an increase in cost\u201d.<\/p>\n

This forced Defence to draw $1m from a contingency fund.<\/p>\n

\u2018Essential for the NZDF to be able to deliver military outputs\u2019<\/p>\n

The NZDF told RNZ, \u201cWhile the project was originally scheduled for completion last October, construction was delayed due to a combination of international freights delays, adverse weather and other construction-related issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

It reached \u201cpractical completion\u201d in March 2026 but still needs six-to-nine weeks of checks and certification \u2013 called \u201cwet commissioning\u201d as aviation fuel is gradually introduced \u2013 then more checks by the air force.<\/p>\n

The upgrade was also to support the new P-8A Poseidon planes, said the Cabinet paper in 2023, though these arrived two to three years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cEfficient refuelling operations and maintaining sufficient fuel supplies are essential for the NZDF to be able to deliver military outputs, respond to national emergencies, support the Pacific during a period of sharpening strategic competition and climate change effects, and support new capabilities such as the P-8A Poseidon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dialog Fitzroy Ltd got the $74m contract for the fuel precinct in late 2023. Defence refused to comment on any contractual issues around the delay.<\/p>\n

In February 2025, Treasury required NZDF to provide a revised investment programme for it.<\/p>\n

\u014chakea is among nine bases or camps needing $2-3 billion of upgrades to their military infrastructure, but also housing and barracks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe \u014chakea Fuels Precinct is not yet in full operational use,\u201d Defence told RNZ this week. \u201cThe facility…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[29893,1403,48803,6435,23966,2082,5760,2678,305,111,43,139,69,691,31341,21037,5659,223,6149,14443],"class_list":["post-538909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-authorities","tag-defence","tag-disaster","tag-does","tag-enough","tag-for","tag-force","tag-fuel","tag-have","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-or","tag-pennington","tag-phil","tag-say","tag-the","tag-war","tag-wont"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}