Who was the official "sponsor" of the now sunken NZ Naval ship Manawanui? None other than former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. And now it seems we may already know what led to the total loss of the Manawanui and destruction of the way of life of large numbers of Samoan villagers. In an interview that may turn out to be a big mistake - and will be making his former political colleagues & Defense Force Staff nervous beyond belief - since it may open up huge legal claims on New Zealand from the Samoan government - former Ardern Labour Government Defense Minister Ron Mark has just revealed that his:
"[Labour Party] ministerial team purchased the vessel [in 2018] from Norway, used for oil exploration, and refitted it, getting it into service in 11 months .. It astonished our partners, the audacity that we would buy a commercial vessel of that type & press it into military service .. We bought Manawanui knowing she was not a war ship, she's a commercial operation... but with that comes a risk and the risk is that commercial vessels do not have the same level of redundancy in their systems or their design that warships do - you can't seal off compartments, create water tight compartments & keep the vessel afloat so that it can be towed, salvaged & repaired .. I guess no one anticipated that she'd hit a reef."
So there you go. I admire Ron Mark's refreshing honesty. It didn't take long for the truth to emerge. The ship was bought on the cheap - it was never meant to do reef research - quite the contrary, it was built for deep (North) Sea oil exploration. After the NZ Navy bought it, they painted it Battleship Grey to make it look like a Naval ship, even though it wasn't a Naval ship, and not built to that specification. A refit was done, again on the cheap. From what Ron Mark suggests, that refit did not "create water tight compartments" which are standard features of naval vessels, designed to prevent the total sinking that has occurred. As such, it appears the ship was never fit for its new assigned tasks.
All in all, its looking like former PM Ardern was happy to spend $15 billion on wage subsidy style schemes, handing Fletcher Building over $68 million in terms of that subsidy, which it never repaid, being nearly the entire cost of the Manawanui, but she was not prepared to make the Manawanui fully sea-worthy for the reef work tasks that it was charged with doing. The consequence has been endangering 75 sailors lives & the environmental desecration of Samoa. I suppose she wont be talking about that decision at one of her Harvard seminars.
Sources:
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/it-s-my-ship-and-i-m-gutted-former-minister-ron-mark-on-manawanui-sinking/ar-AA1rN33y
So there you go. I admire Ron Mark's refreshing honesty. It didn't take long for the truth to emerge. The ship was bought on the cheap - it was never meant to do reef research - quite the contrary, it was built for deep (North) Sea oil exploration. After the NZ Navy bought it, they painted it Battleship Grey to make it look like a Naval ship, even though it wasn't a Naval ship, and not built to that specification. A refit was done, again on the cheap. From what Ron Mark suggests, that refit did not "create water tight compartments" which are standard features of naval vessels, designed to prevent the total sinking that has occurred. As such, it appears the ship was never fit for its new assigned tasks.
All in all, its looking like former PM Ardern was happy to spend $15 billion on wage subsidy style schemes, handing Fletcher Building over $68 million in terms of that subsidy, which it never repaid, being nearly the entire cost of the Manawanui, but she was not prepared to make the Manawanui fully sea-worthy for the reef work tasks that it was charged with doing. The consequence has been endangering 75 sailors lives & the environmental desecration of Samoa. I suppose she wont be talking about that decision at one of her Harvard seminars.
Sources:
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/it-s-my-ship-and-i-m-gutted-former-minister-ron-mark-on-manawanui-sinking/ar-AA1rN33y
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.
6 comments:
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Dear Professor MacCulloch, I suggest you "conduct a deep dive" on the years of the Helen Clarke Govt and what occurred under her tenure with NZ Military purchases. Keep in mind that one "young Adern sat at the feet of Helen, on the 9th floor of.. " so did she learn from the Master, to then use when she became PM?
The other thing that's relevant is that Ardern made drastic cuts to the navy personnel, particularly the pale stale males. Consequently most of the experience and expertise were lost. At the same time, Ardern was employing armies of spin doctors and cultural advisors all over the public service. I bet she doesn't mention this on her jet setting speaking tours when she sings her own praises.
It’s stretching things to blame Adern for the loss of the Manawanui. Ron Marks was a NZ First MP and a very respected defence minister. And it’s quite common in all navies for commercial vessels to be adapted for non-combat roles.
From my neutral viewpoint it appears you are drawing a very long bow to politicise the incident.
Another example of the legacy of Comrade Jacinda the Red.
This ship was neither bought on the cheap nor converted on the cheap. It was actually quite expensive considering the state of the offshore sector at the time. While she was owned and operated by the Navy, she was not a combat ship, and carried no armaments. She was a survey and salvage vessel and as such didn't need to meet the naval vessel's requirements, whatever they are. As for her "water tightness", vessels of this kind have full length double hull and at least 4 watertight compartments. Being a Dynamically Positioned (DP2) vessel, she also had 100% propulsion and maneuvering redundancy. Even with three of her main generators out of service she was still capable of making way. These vessels are designed for worldwide trading and operations in all geographical areas (apart from polar) and can handle just about any weather conditions. She WAS eminently suitable for the purpose she was purchased for.
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