Rena review doesn't go far enough

Maritime New Zealand’s internal review into the Rena disaster will be too narrow to give New Zealanders confidence that all the lessons will be learnt from our worst ever environmental disaster, Labour’s Environment Spokesperson Grant Robertson said.

“This is not an inquiry, as had been promised.  It is essentially an internal review of Maritime New Zealand’s processes.  The people of the Bay of Plenty and New Zealanders in general deserve better than this response to our worst ever maritime environmental disaster.

“An inquiry that would have the power to compel witnesses, and investigate the activities of other government agencies and ministers is the minimum needed.   We need to know what happened in the days immediately following the grounding, what role ministers played or did not play and whether we are in a position to deal with this kind of disaster in the future. “

“The review will be led by Simon Murdoch.  He is a well-respected public servant with a long and illustrious career. But with questions hanging over the actions of the GCSB when he was in charge, this is unfortunate timing.

“The Government’s approach to learning lessons from the Rena disaster has been slack. It has taken a long time to announce this inquiry, just as it has failed to introduce the legislation that will limit the liability of New Zealand taxpayers until very recently.  

“New Zealanders deserve better from their Government when it comes to the protection of our environment,”  Grant Robertson said.