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Ron Mark: Former Defence Minister expects Court on Inquiry to act quickly on HMNZS Manawanui sinking · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So the monum Minui has sunk. Defense Minister Judith Collins
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: at the press conference yesterday, this could have been a
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: truly terrible day, but actually it's a bad day. Purchased
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: in twenty eighteen from Norway, it was used in the
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: oil and gas industry there. It cost US one hundred
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: and three million dollars to buy and convert into a
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: navy ship which was ready for service in twenty nineteen.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: The guy who signed the cabinet paper to get that
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: done was Ron Mark, former Defense Minister. He's with us
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: live this morning. Ron, Good morning, Good morning Ryan.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: How are you.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: I'm well, thank you. How are you feeling about this?
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: No, I'm gutted. Them pretty sad and I guess you
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: know fair to say this one hurt not just for
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: me but for my entire fort In my former ministerial
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: staff team, we worked at butts Off on a range
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: of cabinet papers at that time and brought into service,
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: upgraded the frigates. We bought this ship into service. We
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: completed the project that former government had started with Altro
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: introduced that vessel into service as well. To lose a
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: ship that brought such an amazing capability to the Royal
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: New Zealand Navy into New Zealand as a whole, which
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: quietly stunned a lot of our five Eyes and other
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: partners because of its capability and the innovation and thinking
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: that was behind its purchase. Yeah, lose that ship. We
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: knew it should be a stopgap for about fifteen minute
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: fifteen years, not fifteen minutes and fifteen year stopgap to
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: cover the resolution and the former money were nouing, one
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: being a survey ship, the other being the dive ship.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: We thought it was a very innovative and smart purchase
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: and get cabinet sign off was a wonderful thing, and
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: particularly at that time because I'd been left with a
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: bit of a disaster with the frigate system's upgrade and
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: project which had gone over one hundred and forty million,
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: because it had been stalled for ten years, sitting there
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: waiting for the government, the previous government sign off on it,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: and we had to fill find money from somewhere. We've
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: pulled the money out of the latoral vessel that was
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: meant to be purchased and put it in to sign
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: off the evershew and get that done. And then we
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: bought bought Mono Nui or Eda fond as she was
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: known back then, and.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Ay hugely important asset to us. What are you hearing
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: about what went wrong?
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Well, it's a bit dangerous for me to even repeat
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: any of the speculation that's out there, because Ryan, as
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: you know, the Navy will stand up a court of inquiry.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: A convenient officer will clearly be the chief of Navy.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: He will be looking for people the right expertise. I'd
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: expect that within forty eight hours there will be an
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: announcement on that. I'd expect it it'll be very, very quick,
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: because they want to ascertain exactly how and why the
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: ship ended up in peril and sinking the way it did.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: I guess they'll know that we've got to wait to
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: hear the results of that court are acquiring. As a
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: former Minister of Defense, it wouldn't do. You're good to
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: be speculating in the media and corrupting the process.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: No, fair enough, One quick question on that process. Could
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: a commanding office a big court martial for something like that?
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't even want to spark fair conversation around that,
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: because all right now, I'd say the commanding of the
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: skipper will be feeling it really really hardly. Now. One
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: of the things I do know is that the skipper
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: made a call, a very tough call, which some might
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: have thought was a bit premature. But at the end
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: of the day, everyone got off that vessel. No one died,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: and the vessel did go to the bottom, and yet
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: we showed disadvantage.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, it just goes to show that it was
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: the right call in the end, wasn't it. And seventy
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: five souls are living today to tell the tale. Ron,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: thank you very much for that. That's Ron Mark, former
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Defense Minister with US. He's signed off on the cabinet
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: paper to upgrade and bring that in from Norway for
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: more from News Talks, the'd be listen live on air
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: or online and keep our shows with you wherever you
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: go with our podcasts on IR Radio.