The founding head of Maritime New Zealand has responded with criticism to the actions taken by his former agency last week to review last year’s grounding of the Rena vessel in the Bay of Plenty.
Russell Kilvington, an experienced mariner and maritime official, was the first director of Maritime New Zealand when it was formed in 1995 from the organization previously known as the Maritime Safety Authority. Kilvington has experience in dealing with marine disasters – he was in charge of the Safety Authority when New Zealand experienced their last large scale incident – the grounding of the Jody F Millenium in Gisborne in 2002.
On Friday Kilvington criticized the focus of the review into the Rena incident that Maritime New Zealand announced in the press on Thursday. According to media releases, the review would focus mainly on the effectiveness of Maritime New Zealand’s response to the grounding, rather than the actual cause of the incident or whether preventative measures could have been taken before the accident occurred.
According to Kilvington, the scope of the review is too narrow. Kilvington also criticized the agency’s choice of Simon Murdoch, a former diplomat, to head the review, saying that Murdoch does not have enough experience in maritime law, maritime operations or oil spill response to lead the review.
Murdoch is also currently under investigation regarding his previous role, as the acting head of the Government Communications Security Bureau, after questions were raised when the Bureau illegally spied on Kim Dotcom, a prominent internet billionaire.
Other New Zealand officials have agreed with Kilvington. MP Gareth Hughes has couched for Kilvington, saying that his suggestions should be listened to and the New Zealand government should extend the reach of the current review.
In particular, Kilvington suggests that the review should include such issues as safeguards for taxpayers to limit environmental damage, the institution of compulsory shipping lanes, increasing minimum insurance coverage for oil rigs, and harsher penalties for marine pollution.
The current director of Maritime New Zealand, Keith Manch, defended Mr. Murdoch’s appointment in a press release yesterday. Manch also said that he felt that the scope of the review was appropriate to address the real issues of interest to Maritime New Zealand, namely their operational response.
According to Manch, the issues that Kilvington raise will fall under the wider responsibilities of the agency and will be addressed in due course as part of ongoing marine policy development.
