Robert MacCulloch
Robert MacCulloch is a native of New Zealand and worked at the Reserve Bank of NZ before he travelled to the UK to complete a PhD in Economics at Oxford University.
The outstanding African American economist Thomas Sowell once said, “When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.” Today’s blog is about finding the truth to help the people of Samoa, who are perplexed as to why their government has been surprisingly quiet about the sinking of NZ Navy ship Manawanui.
Today, their papers scream, “Manawanui sinking: Fish covered in oil, huge leak confirmed ... Fishermen on the coast of Safata told to discard fish covered in oil from HMNZS Manawanui as authorities confirm leakage of 200,000 litres of diesel.”
By contrast, the NZ Defense Force last update says, “Maritime NZ has not seen any oil damage on shore. A RNZ Air Force Poseidon flew over the site on Thursday, confirming a light slick that stretches away from the mainland out to sea.” Defense Minister Collins should be ashamed for letting propaganda worthy of the worst kind of non-democratic regimes to air on official NZ government websites.
So what’s going on? Based on the $NZ 600 million cost of the Rena salvage off Tauranga harbour, the cost of salvaging Manawanui would likely come in at more than $1 billion. The Navy doesn’t have the capability. Much would have to be out-sourced to private companies. Its also hard to see how the costs of restoring the reef, and water quality of the lagoon, and protecting the livelihoods of Samoans who live along its south coast, would come in at less than $1 billion. So our estimate of the NZ government’s liability is the best part of $2 billion. There’s no way Finance Minister Willis is going to pay that sum.
My understanding of what has happened is that the Navy has been ordered to deal with the situation using its existing (limited) resources, so as to create no NZ government budgetary hole that will threaten the spending plans of the finance minister and undermine her chances of winning the next election. Curiously, the HMNZS Canterbury has been sent up to Samoa to help, whose own commander has been placed “under investigation” – so the ship is sailing there under an “acting commander”, appointed on an “interim basis”.
In terms of what really went on in Samoa, it appears to be an impossibility that out of all the places in the world’s largest ocean it could be sailing, the Manawanui just happened to be in extraordinarily close proximity to the Sinalei Reef Resort Hotel, where in [seven] days time King Charles and Queen Camilla will be staying for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. The idea the ship chose to map the one reef out of millions in the Pacific Ocean, right offshore from Charlie and Millie’s lagoon has odds more remote than winning the NZ Lottery.
If you’ve ever lived for a time in cities like Beirut, like me, where conspiracy theories abound, you certainly don’t need to jump to that level to believe the Manawanui was there by request from Samoa’s government to help secure the resort, due to worries someone, maybe foreign terrorists, could get access to it from the sea. Should that be the case, it is an embarrassment of biblical proportions for both the NZ and Samoan governments, since to lose a ship and pollute a chunk of the nation at a cost of billions, kill wild-life and endanger the food supply of humans for generations, which can’t be fixed for any amount of dollars, all for the purpose of making Charlie and Camilla’s stay in the islands a little more relaxing, is ridiculous.
This article was originally published by Down to Earth Kiwi.
