Speaker 1: You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News TALKSB.
Speaker 2: New Zealand Navy ship h M n Z S Mono
Speaker 2: and Nui sank this morning after running aground on a
Speaker 2: reef off the coast of Summer last night. Excuse me,
Speaker 2: the ship caught fire, but the Chief of Navy says
Speaker 2: it's too soon to speculate and watch what has caused
Speaker 2: the incident. Defense Minister Judith Collins is with me now.
Speaker 2: Good afternoon, good after Have you slept it all? It
Speaker 2: happened last night before eleven. You must have had a
Speaker 2: pretty horrendous It's been a pretty pretty busy time for you,
Speaker 2: hasn't it.
Speaker 3: I was surprised by the Chief Defense Force about twenty
Speaker 3: or maybe minutes past seven last night and kept updated. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I do tend to sleep pretty well, and I got
Speaker 3: up using me early to get the next update. But
Speaker 3: the update was there. It was looking like it was
Speaker 3: going to keel over, and of course it did.
Speaker 4: What was it doing there, It was.
Speaker 3: Doing survey work for that reef. So, as you will
Speaker 3: be aware, some more, like many other Pacific nations, has
Speaker 3: been subject to tsunami and earthquakes and all sorts of
Speaker 3: other things, and those reefs. That releaf was last surveyed
Speaker 3: in nineteen eighty seven. So therefore what there is, it's
Speaker 3: very little information. It's it is not safe at the moment,
Speaker 3: and so that's what it was doing, was trying to
Speaker 3: surveying that reef as it in doing other places as well.
Speaker 4: Is that what mano Wanoui's principal purposes.
Speaker 3: It's also been involved with helping to deal with ammunitions,
Speaker 3: you know, World War two ammunitions, diving all those sorts
Speaker 3: of things that you need around the Pacific. I mean,
Speaker 3: we've still got a lot of that stuff in the Pacific,
Speaker 3: and so it's been working on that recently. I think
Speaker 3: the last pace it was somewhere was Vanuatu dealing with
Speaker 3: those sorts of issues. So it's not worship. It was
Speaker 3: never built as a worship. It was a it was
Speaker 3: an all rigged tender for Norway and it was fifteen
Speaker 3: years old when the Government of the day brought it
Speaker 3: about five years ago. But it's not a worship, but
Speaker 3: it is you know, it's painted gray and it's pretty
Speaker 3: much it.
Speaker 2: Of course, you can be a hugely relieved, as we
Speaker 2: all are, that crew and passengers are all okay in
Speaker 2: a successful evacuation.
Speaker 4: I guess if that's the right word, I can't think of.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 3: I think it's a big saving grace O of the
Speaker 3: entire terrible incident is that nobody actually lost their lives,
Speaker 3: and it could have been gone from a terrible situation
Speaker 3: into a massive tragedy. So I'm just pleased that everyone
Speaker 3: got off. And though it was touch and go in
Speaker 3: the early hours this morning, as one of the ribs,
Speaker 3: one of the boats on basically it's on the Amanahanui
Speaker 3: capsized over the reef because apparently it's very heavy seas
Speaker 3: and in the middle of the night, and those people
Speaker 3: who are in that got themselves up and onto the
Speaker 3: reef and walked across to land, so they were no
Speaker 3: doubt have some cut, some bruises.
Speaker 2: And from that as well, I do assume that based
Speaker 2: on that that weather conditions or the sea conditions played
Speaker 2: a part in whatever happened.
Speaker 3: Oh, I don't know. And that's what we do know
Speaker 3: is that it wasn't good this morning when they were
Speaker 3: you know, there's going to be a quarter of inquiry
Speaker 3: has already been set up now hasn't been that's being
Speaker 3: set up and that will come to look at all
Speaker 3: the evidence, and so that can put an end to
Speaker 3: the speculation, because frankly, I think there's so much speculation
Speaker 3: because of course naturally people want to know what's happened,
Speaker 3: as do I. But I haven't got the effects and
Speaker 3: we need to have those.
Speaker 2: Can you tell us what a court of inquiries processes
Speaker 2: and sort of timeline broadly from any particular precedence or no.
Speaker 3: Well, what I can say is that the Chief of
Speaker 3: Navy said that it starts setting itself up and it
Speaker 3: will take whatever time it takes to get to the
Speaker 3: bottom of it. But you can imagine the Navy does
Speaker 3: keep very good records, and you can also imagine that
Speaker 3: they will be straight onto this. This is a big
Speaker 3: deal for Navy. They are really upset about it. And
Speaker 3: as I say, the only saving grace is that nobody
Speaker 3: actually died.
Speaker 4: I mean common sense or would help us.
Speaker 2: It would allow us to infer that given they were
Speaker 2: surveying the reef they were they were probably in a
Speaker 2: position where they had to be in close proximity to it. Anyway,
Speaker 2: Is that right?
Speaker 3: Well, I don't think that it's speculation. I think that's
Speaker 3: pretty clear. You need to be in order to survey it, obviously,
Speaker 3: But look, I just I can't go to any other
Speaker 3: detail because number one, you know, I can't bridge this
Speaker 3: an inquiry, and secondly I don't really have the facts.
Speaker 2: But okay, well you can just say no if you
Speaker 2: can't answer each question. Was it actually engaged in the
Speaker 2: survey when trouble hit?
Speaker 3: I can't tell you that, but I can say that
Speaker 3: that was a job to do that. So whether they
Speaker 3: had already started or not as no matter.
Speaker 2: Do we have a lead on whether it was human
Speaker 2: or technical error or mechanical.
Speaker 3: No, we have veryous speculative comments on social media, but
Speaker 3: we don't have a lead. I think we simply can't.
Speaker 3: And it's understand that these matters are treated very seriously.
Speaker 3: I imagine that it will all come out in the
Speaker 3: I wouldn't say full of the time. I'll say as
Speaker 3: soon as it is able to What sort.
Speaker 2: Of briefings do you get on what the Navy know
Speaker 2: compared to what you know? Obviously maybe you can or
Speaker 2: can't share that stuff with us, but do you get
Speaker 2: a briefing about information that you just simply have to
Speaker 2: keep to yourself because of the court inquiry?
Speaker 3: I sometimes get information that would be I need to
Speaker 3: keep quiet about. But then I've also got other agencies
Speaker 3: that I'm pretty used to doing that with security agencies.
Speaker 3: So I just my view is I'll speak about what
Speaker 3: we can publicly say, otherwise will wait.
Speaker 2: For the r And look, I I have read comments
Speaker 2: that you've said that you've referred to avoiding the loss
Speaker 2: of life as a triumph, and also you said you
Speaker 2: could never be embarrassed by the defense force. But to
Speaker 2: be honest, this incident surely is embarrassing, isn't it. The
Speaker 2: incident itself, Losing a ship in war is one thing,
Speaker 2: but in peace time, well, I.
Speaker 3: Just I think it is really unfortunate. I'm just grateful
Speaker 3: nobody died, and when it comes to just wait till
Speaker 3: the inquiry to see whether there's anything there. But I
Speaker 3: know that there are around fifteen thousand New Zealand defense personnel,
Speaker 3: civilian and uniform who will be utterly gutted about this today.
Speaker 3: And I'm not someone who's going to put the boot
Speaker 3: into my team ever.
Speaker 4: Good on you.
Speaker 2: Now, look in terms of the Navy's inventory, what gap
Speaker 2: does this lead leave and with what urgency do we
Speaker 2: need to fill it?
Speaker 3: Well? It means we don't have the sort of craft
Speaker 3: that can go around and do surveys. I mean, that's
Speaker 3: important work. I'm wondering whether you know what we need
Speaker 3: to do now, because obviously we're doing our defense capability
Speaker 3: pant a moment, Do we now need to look at
Speaker 3: this area as well, or is there something that is
Speaker 3: not necessarily our core business. I'm not sure about that.
Speaker 3: That's something that Defense needs to discuss with me and
Speaker 3: work out themselves. Everyone's just dealing with the situation right
Speaker 3: at the moment, and right now we're very worried about
Speaker 3: any environmental impact on the Savon reef and some more
Speaker 3: so we're focused on that one, and so which comes next?
Speaker 3: Everything else?
Speaker 2: We'll just wait, are you concerned or I mean, this
Speaker 2: is probably stuff that's within cabinet, But everyone wants more money.
Speaker 2: How much more money do we need for the defense?
Speaker 2: Does it place a strain on our budgets?
Speaker 3: Again, well, it's quite clearly that New Zealand, like many
Speaker 3: other Webster nations, decided in about nineteen ninety to cut
Speaker 3: the amount of their defense budget. So that was a
Speaker 3: decision made after the end of the fall of the
Speaker 3: Berlin Wall. You sort of see that all Western nations,
Speaker 3: so clearly we live in very difficult times. We've got
Speaker 3: a lot of old kit We've got some new ones
Speaker 3: just turned up in the pectories and the p eights,
Speaker 3: but we're constantly having to make do an old pit.
Speaker 3: And it's like the burrowing seven five sevens that gets
Speaker 3: a lot of stick. Were teen years old and they're bought.
Speaker 3: This particular ship was fifteen years old when it was bought.
Speaker 2: Look, I do really appreciate your time and stuff, and
Speaker 2: it just had a slightly lighter I don't know if
Speaker 2: we can change channel on this sort of but on
Speaker 2: a lighter topic. Has there been I loved that you
Speaker 2: were ranked at number five in the mood of the boardroom,
Speaker 2: about a hundredth of a point ahead of the Prime Minister.
Speaker 4: Has there been much banter within the cabinet about the
Speaker 4: rankings and the mood of the boardroom.
Speaker 3: No, we're doing the job. That would be freake seriously
Speaker 3: doing the job and our zeriaware. This is a team effort.
Speaker 3: One of the great things with mister Christopher Lutson is
Speaker 3: let me and our team just get on with the job.
Speaker 3: We've got our KPIs get onto them and he's incredibly supportive,
Speaker 3: as he has been a freak with all this matter
Speaker 3: last night and today.
Speaker 2: Yes, indeed, well actually I did think that he would
Speaker 2: be happy to see his team doing so well.
Speaker 4: And that's the whole point. That's I think that's a stick,
Speaker 4: isn't it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it is. He's really good. He understands not
Speaker 3: just one person, that's the whole team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Judith, Look, I do really appreciate your time because
Speaker 2: I know it's been a it would have been a
Speaker 2: fraud sort of, you know, not coming up to twenty
Speaker 2: four hours for you. So thank you so much for
Speaker 2: your answers and best wishes. Thanks very much, Thanks very
Speaker 2: much to bye yeers, bye bye.
Speaker 4: Difficult.
Speaker 5: You know, I think it's it is difficult for Judith
Speaker 5: because she has Minister of Defense and as she said,
Speaker 5: I'm not going to have a crack at my team
Speaker 5: and things and that's the job of the Court of
Speaker 5: Inquiry and so yeah, but it was interesting just to hear,
Speaker 5: you know, that couple of consequences that we don't think
Speaker 5: of and Judith was talking about.
Speaker 2: You know, there's a lot of speculation on social media,
Speaker 2: but of course the next thing that they're concerned about
Speaker 2: is the environmental impact. I know that the expression environmental
Speaker 2: impact is a red rag to a ball for someone,
Speaker 2: but seriously, a ship has just run around and caught
Speaker 2: fire and in samar and so it'll be interesting to
Speaker 2: see how that story develops as well. We're going to
Speaker 2: be doing some talkback shortly on eight hundred and eighty
Speaker 2: ten and eighty and look. Two things you can your
Speaker 2: response to the interview with Judith Collins there and any questions.
Speaker 2: I don't think she could have answered any other questions
Speaker 2: I was I was dying to asked her. You ask her,
Speaker 2: you know, do we know who was at the helm
Speaker 2: and all that sort of stuff, but she was never
Speaker 2: going to be able to answer that.
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