Forget Dunedin hospital. Forget Whangarei hospital. Forget all of the infrastructure projects promised by National. Forget any Wellington Tunnel. All bets are off. The Finance Minister's budgets have officially been blown out for the next several years.
Unless taxes are increased by the National Party, which it wont do, the only way out of the NZ government meeting its responsibilities to Samoa in the aftermath of the sinking of the Manawanui is to explode this country's borrowings and debt. Of course, it wont want to do that either - so it is presently on course to betray the Samoans. If you listen to the NZ Navy Chief, or the Defense Minister, or NZ Prime Minister, you'd think they are doing everything they can to save Samoa from an ecological disaster. But that is not what the Samoans say. Outside of the Wellington bubble, here is how the Samoa Observer is reporting what's happening right now:
"Oil can be seen floating on top of the sea where the ill-fated HMNZS Manawanui sank on Sunday morning. An environmental disaster looms .. Along with the oil, rubbish and debris from the wreck are also floating on the ocean threatening marine life, food sources and tourism in the area .. A day after the unrecoverable ship sunk into the ocean, nearby villages and tour operators didn’t wait for the authorities to clean up the debris and items from the sunken ship. Many villagers who went out to sea confirmed seeing uncontained fuel in the ocean and debris littered everywhere. Ituau said he was at sea on Sunday afternoon with other men and managed to pull to shore a life raft used during the rescue operation abandoned on the reef. He said one of two dispatched boats on the HMNZS Manawanui was still sitting out at sea .. “The fuel smell is strong at night and if you go out further it is visible,” said the Saanapu resident ..This is a tragedy for our people and no amount of money can repair the damages to the marine life. Offshore Adventures tour operator, Brent Ross went out with his boat on Monday to assess the situation for his guests who were scheduled to explore the popular surfing spot in the area. “Fuel [is] washing up in the lagoon, it’s an environmental disaster - unbelieving". Mr Ross picked up some of the debris out at sea including first aid kits, multiple five-litre gallons containing chemicals, packages of food items, lifebuoys, life vests & other equipment. Samoa Observer confirms other villagers also returning equipment to the Lotofaga police post. They expressed concerns about seeing no salvaging teams to contain the leaking fuel and clean up the rubbish on shore".
Shame on Defense Minister Collins. Shame on Rear Admiral of the NZ Navy Golding. What was your priority? Flying back the crew members of the sunken ship for the Prime Minister to give them a heroes welcome back in NZ? Why didn't they stay in Samoa and help pick up some of the thousands of tons of plastic and rubbish and diesel that they left behind? Why isn't Collins in the lagoon with Golding right now? Is picking up rubbish beneath them?
Sources:
https://www.samoaobserver.ws/category/samoa/111434
"Oil can be seen floating on top of the sea where the ill-fated HMNZS Manawanui sank on Sunday morning. An environmental disaster looms .. Along with the oil, rubbish and debris from the wreck are also floating on the ocean threatening marine life, food sources and tourism in the area .. A day after the unrecoverable ship sunk into the ocean, nearby villages and tour operators didn’t wait for the authorities to clean up the debris and items from the sunken ship. Many villagers who went out to sea confirmed seeing uncontained fuel in the ocean and debris littered everywhere. Ituau said he was at sea on Sunday afternoon with other men and managed to pull to shore a life raft used during the rescue operation abandoned on the reef. He said one of two dispatched boats on the HMNZS Manawanui was still sitting out at sea .. “The fuel smell is strong at night and if you go out further it is visible,” said the Saanapu resident ..This is a tragedy for our people and no amount of money can repair the damages to the marine life. Offshore Adventures tour operator, Brent Ross went out with his boat on Monday to assess the situation for his guests who were scheduled to explore the popular surfing spot in the area. “Fuel [is] washing up in the lagoon, it’s an environmental disaster - unbelieving". Mr Ross picked up some of the debris out at sea including first aid kits, multiple five-litre gallons containing chemicals, packages of food items, lifebuoys, life vests & other equipment. Samoa Observer confirms other villagers also returning equipment to the Lotofaga police post. They expressed concerns about seeing no salvaging teams to contain the leaking fuel and clean up the rubbish on shore".
Shame on Defense Minister Collins. Shame on Rear Admiral of the NZ Navy Golding. What was your priority? Flying back the crew members of the sunken ship for the Prime Minister to give them a heroes welcome back in NZ? Why didn't they stay in Samoa and help pick up some of the thousands of tons of plastic and rubbish and diesel that they left behind? Why isn't Collins in the lagoon with Golding right now? Is picking up rubbish beneath them?
Sources:
https://www.samoaobserver.ws/category/samoa/111434
Professor Robert MacCulloch holds the Matthew S. Abel Chair of Macroeconomics at Auckland University. He has previously worked at the Reserve Bank, Oxford University, and the London School of Economics. He runs the blog Down to Earth Kiwi from where this article was sourced.
5 comments:
I totally agree with the article but at the same time wonder why the ship was there in the first place. It sounds like Samoa was taking the benefit of free charting services, all at the expense of the NZ taxpayer. Now the taxpayers will have to also fund the cleanup.
It’s diesel not bunker oil and it will disperse and evaporate all by itself. This event is being reported like the Rena with its trans oceanic bunker oil reserves and hundreds of containers including chemicals and plastic beads.
I also see the fuel aboard being listed as a larger volume than the full fuel capacity of the vessel, despite it having departed Auckland and travelled around the pacific to Samoa. Remarkable!
Never accept media reports are face value.
Who will be held responsible? Should the inexperienced and under-qualified captain be shown to have played a part in the sinking, will we see the armed forces management who promoted her held responsible?
And will evidence of a Captain potentially promoted based on genitalia and sexual orientation rather then merit trigger an audit of the experience, qualifications, sex, and sexual orientation of Managers / Governors of all publicly funded / governed organisations'; verses the experience and qualifications of rejected applicants (starting with the disastrous NZ Judiciary)?
This information should of course be made publicly available so the people paying for this debacle can hold those responsible to account.
How can this be. We are told the weather conditions were atrocious and the waves were big. Getting the crew off safely was fraught with danger. Surely the locals wouldn't be risking their own lives to take their small craft out in such conditions. And surely the wreckage would have been dispersed far and wide in these atrocious conditions.
Anon seems to be correct that diesel fuel evaporates off the surface of the water relatively quickly. The extent of the clean-up should be very limited.
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