Is the Truth Out - that PM Ardern's government made a (Defense Force Underfunding) decision that led to Manawanui's Sinking & Billion $ Environmental Fiasco?

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

Its a full blown scandal. The Samoa Observer Newspaper Reports the Kiwis have not yet done a thing to help them clean up and save their ocean.

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