The Electricity Authority's report in to a toppled pylon has found the collapse was entirely avoidable.
The Transpower pylon north of Helensville fell - cutting power to 88,000 people in Northland - after unsupervised, inexperienced maintenance crews undid three legs at once.
The report found there was evidence removing all the nuts wasn't a one-off event.
ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper says this incident came with significant economic impacts to Northland.
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Barry Sopower seeing your political correspondence with us.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Barry, Hello, good afternoon, Heather.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Oh what a surprise about the Transpower.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Well, we could have saved them the inquiry, couldn't we
because we said within hours of seeing well within minutes,
i should say of seeing the photograph, was pretty obvious
that the pylon collapse because the bolts were.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
What's interesting is that it's not the first time that
all of the bolts were taken out of more than
one leads.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yes, exactly, and that's something that we've learnt from this
inquiry and also the absolute cost to the province of
Northland eighty eight thousand people without power. The cost to
Northland was massive, as the Energy Minister Simeon Brown outlined
in Parliament this afternoon.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
The report identifies a range of estimates between thirty seven
point five million and eighty million dollars of lost economic
activity for Northland. The report recounts how concerns are raised
by a senior engineer within Transpower in twenty twenty one
regarding a gap in the knowledge of maintenance crews undertaking
foundation work, but that the recommendations for improvement by Transpower
(01:02):
were not acted on and The report also identifies that
the removal of all the nuts from the base plates
from more than one tower leg was not a one
off event.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
To have a question to the minister whether or not
the government is considering compensation and whether that will be
provided to effective businesses and residents, and whether that is
something that has been actively pursued by the government.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, well that question came from Megan Woods, who was
the Energy Minister at the time when Transpower was alerted
to the major problem the disconnect between maintenance crews and
the company itself. So I think you're.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Talking about the senior the senior engineer who in twenty
twenty one warned Transpower that this guy's.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Doing the word made recommendation, didn't.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Realize what they were doing. No, but do you really
expect that Meghan Woods knew that level of detail of
what Transpower. I think this is a Transpower problem, not
a Megan you know.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
True, But I just thought that her getting up and
saying that that she was the minister at the time,
and I think it was probably a bit rich coming
from her.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
I feel like there should be some copper for the
people in Northland. So whoever advocates for them at the moment. Whatever, right, Yeah,
thank you, So you make Takuta Ferris is off to
the Privileges Committee.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah, we all know what happened last Wednesday. Today, though,
I've got to say, Ferris was digging his hole even deeper,
appairing holier than thou, quoting at length and Iahu chaired
justin deeper talking about the Treaty Principals Bill.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
You can't have a reasonable, reasonable debate with a person
or party who just thought the truth.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah, well, he should look at his own principles following
the denial he made last week lies.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
In other words, many in this House are masters of it.
Speaker 5 (02:50):
If that is what the members said, then he should
withdraw and apologize as quickly as possible. I haven't made
this statement.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, well today these Speaker Jerry Browne sent him off
to the sinbin to explain himself.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
Following a point of order alleging that he had called
members liars. Mister Ferris replied to me, quote, I haven't
made that statement, and denying that he made the statement.
It is possible that mister Ferris has himself deliberately misled
the House. That is a matter for the Privileges Committee to.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Judge, well, I can save them the time and effort
for that as well. Heather that he clearly did mislead
the House and now I guess it's the penalty that
now they'll now bestow upon him which will be of
the most interest, and I would imagine his risk is
going to be rather sore after a bust ticketsne.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I mean it's the Privileges Committee who cares. But but
have we heard from the Maori Party yet?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
No, we haven't. Once he they had the opportunity And
this is supreme arrogance to me in Parliament if you
have some standards, and we've looked at the standards in
the debating chamber and they have diminished considerably. I think
in recent years. I've got to say there's nothing to
do with Jerry Brownie. Jerry Brownie, I think has been
a very good chairman. He gives much more latitude than
(04:07):
what other speakers have done, and I think people feel
that they're a bit more involved. But the standards in
the House for some of the morons that stand up
and make points like this one, I think they have
to be pulled up because I guess the dignity of
Parliament has to be maintained and you can't call your
colleagues liars.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Barry, what do you make of Chris Luckson's chief media guy,
Hamus Rutherford quitting after ten months?
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Well job. It's interesting when you consider that he has
worked with and for Chris Luckson for almost two years
because when Luckson was the leader of the opposition, of
course Hamish left The Herald in his business role there
and went to work for him, so he knows he
would know Luxon pretty well. By now. I've done a
(04:54):
bit of a talking around to see what sort of
boss that Chris Luckson would be. The phrases that I
was offered was hard charging whatever that means, relentless, tough
task master, doing a lot of social media, which has
said it has been suggested to me as something of an
(05:15):
obsession for him. But you know, you would say all
those attributes are what you would expect in a leader.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
I've heard micro manager doesn't take advice.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Well, maybe that, and maybe at times is a bit
indiscreet about the people who are working for and around him.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
I think when you listen, Barry, when you become the
media guy for someone who's going to be the prime minister,
and after ten months you decide you don't want to
do the job anymore. I think that's a poor reflection
of something's gone wrong here in the relationship between the
two of them, right.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Well, because something's gone wrong with one of them, one
or the other. I haven't talked to you, Hamish, because
I thought I'd rather talk to others just to see
how things.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
He's too classy to say anything bad about Chris Luxen.
Oh all right, Berry, thanks very much. You had a
very soper Senior political correspondent, eight away from five.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
For more from Hither Duplessy Alan Drive, listen live to
news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Barry Sopower seeing your political correspondence with us.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Barry, Hello, good afternoon, Heather.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Oh what a surprise about the Transpower.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Well, we could have saved them the inquiry, couldn't we
because we said within hours of seeing well within minutes,
i should say of seeing the photograph, was pretty obvious
that the pylon collapse because the bolts were.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
What's interesting is that it's not the first time that
all of the bolts were taken out of more than
one leads.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yes, exactly, and that's something that we've learnt from this
inquiry and also the absolute cost to the province of
Northland eighty eight thousand people without power. The cost to
Northland was massive, as the Energy Minister Simeon Brown outlined
in Parliament this afternoon.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
The report identifies a range of estimates between thirty seven
point five million and eighty million dollars of lost economic
activity for Northland. The report recounts how concerns are raised
by a senior engineer within Transpower in twenty twenty one
regarding a gap in the knowledge of maintenance crews undertaking
foundation work, but that the recommendations for improvement by Transpower
(01:02):
were not acted on and The report also identifies that
the removal of all the nuts from the base plates
from more than one tower leg was not a one
off event.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
To have a question to the minister whether or not
the government is considering compensation and whether that will be
provided to effective businesses and residents, and whether that is
something that has been actively pursued by the government.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, well that question came from Megan Woods, who was
the Energy Minister at the time when Transpower was alerted
to the major problem the disconnect between maintenance crews and
the company itself. So I think you're.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Talking about the senior the senior engineer who in twenty
twenty one warned Transpower that this guy's.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Doing the word made recommendation, didn't.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Realize what they were doing. No, but do you really
expect that Meghan Woods knew that level of detail of
what Transpower. I think this is a Transpower problem, not
a Megan you know.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
True, But I just thought that her getting up and
saying that that she was the minister at the time,
and I think it was probably a bit rich coming
from her.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
I feel like there should be some copper for the
people in Northland. So whoever advocates for them at the moment. Whatever, right, Yeah,
thank you, So you make Takuta Ferris is off to
the Privileges Committee.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah, we all know what happened last Wednesday. Today, though,
I've got to say, Ferris was digging his hole even deeper,
appairing holier than thou, quoting at length and Iahu chaired
justin deeper talking about the Treaty Principals Bill.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
You can't have a reasonable, reasonable debate with a person
or party who just thought the truth.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah, well, he should look at his own principles following
the denial he made last week lies.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
In other words, many in this House are masters of it.
Speaker 5 (02:50):
If that is what the members said, then he should
withdraw and apologize as quickly as possible. I haven't made
this statement.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, well today these Speaker Jerry Browne sent him off
to the sinbin to explain himself.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
Following a point of order alleging that he had called
members liars. Mister Ferris replied to me, quote, I haven't
made that statement, and denying that he made the statement.
It is possible that mister Ferris has himself deliberately misled
the House. That is a matter for the Privileges Committee to.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Judge, well, I can save them the time and effort
for that as well. Heather that he clearly did mislead
the House and now I guess it's the penalty that
now they'll now bestow upon him which will be of
the most interest, and I would imagine his risk is
going to be rather sore after a bust ticketsne.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I mean it's the Privileges Committee who cares. But but
have we heard from the Maori Party yet?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
No, we haven't. Once he they had the opportunity And
this is supreme arrogance to me in Parliament if you
have some standards, and we've looked at the standards in
the debating chamber and they have diminished considerably. I think
in recent years. I've got to say there's nothing to
do with Jerry Brownie. Jerry Brownie, I think has been
a very good chairman. He gives much more latitude than
(04:07):
what other speakers have done, and I think people feel
that they're a bit more involved. But the standards in
the House for some of the morons that stand up
and make points like this one, I think they have
to be pulled up because I guess the dignity of
Parliament has to be maintained and you can't call your
colleagues liars.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Barry, what do you make of Chris Luckson's chief media guy,
Hamus Rutherford quitting after ten months?
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Well job. It's interesting when you consider that he has
worked with and for Chris Luckson for almost two years
because when Luckson was the leader of the opposition, of
course Hamish left The Herald in his business role there
and went to work for him, so he knows he
would know Luxon pretty well. By now. I've done a
(04:54):
bit of a talking around to see what sort of
boss that Chris Luckson would be. The phrases that I
was offered was hard charging whatever that means, relentless, tough
task master, doing a lot of social media, which has
said it has been suggested to me as something of an
(05:15):
obsession for him. But you know, you would say all
those attributes are what you would expect in a leader.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
I've heard micro manager doesn't take advice.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Well, maybe that, and maybe at times is a bit
indiscreet about the people who are working for and around him.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
I think when you listen, Barry, when you become the
media guy for someone who's going to be the prime minister,
and after ten months you decide you don't want to
do the job anymore. I think that's a poor reflection
of something's gone wrong here in the relationship between the
two of them, right.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Well, because something's gone wrong with one of them, one
or the other. I haven't talked to you, Hamish, because
I thought I'd rather talk to others just to see
how things.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
He's too classy to say anything bad about Chris Luxen.
Oh all right, Berry, thanks very much. You had a
very soper Senior political correspondent, eight away from five.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
For more from Hither Duplessy Alan Drive, listen live to
news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.