Francesca Rudkin: Interislander needs to step up and own up over ferry embarrassment

Ever had one of those weeks when things just go from bad to worse? We all have, right – so we can appreciate how bad things got for KiwiRail this week.

It was like watching an episode of Utopia or The Office as more details about the Aratere ferry grounding came to light. Then, to top it off, the Transport Minister refused to confirm or deny whether an advisory group has suggested KiwiRail no longer run the Cook Strait ferries. The Maritime Union says it looks that way.

A couple of weeks ago, we spoke to the Duncan Roy, the General Manager of Interislander, after the ferry was successfully refloated. We celebrated the good news and the lack of damage to the ferry, but Roy was hesitant to comment on the Government pointing the finger very directly at the company for their standard of asset management. He diplomatically referred to a formal investigation.

And you have to wonder if that’s because Interislander knew what was up - that human error caused the ferry to slide onto the beach.

At this stage, who knows why auto-pilot was turned on and then the 'execute' button pushed, but knowing that’s what happened makes you think differently about the photos of the beached ferry. For all of us who weren’t passengers or businesses directly impacted, it suddenly looks comical.

Like, say, taking bolts out of a power tower and then watching it fall over.

None of us are perfect – we are human. We all do silly things at times. For a while, I had a habit of driving off with a cup of tea on the roof of my car. My children gave me a plastic keep cup. But some mistakes have a greater impact than others.

So I’m not surprised the question has been asked whether KiwiRail should continue running the ferries. But if not them, who? And how are we going to deal with the replacement of the ferries and landside infrastructure? A big picture plan needs to be in place before we start making other changes – like creating a new entity to run the ferries.

It’s clearly a complex business with specific challenges – and maybe those who know it best should hold the reins a little longer, until we know where the business is heading. The Government received a report from the Independent Ferry Advisory Group a few weeks ago. Decisions are yet to be made about the recommendations it contains, and once that’s done it will have to go to Cabinet. It may take be some time, but the Government scrapped the previous plan so the onus is on them to get moving.

In the meantime, I suggest Interislander just step up, own up, and do themselves a favour - move on from the grounding.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News talks'b Okay.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Ever had one of those weeks when things go from
bad to worse. We all have right so we can
appreciate how bad things got for Key we Rail this week.
It was like watching an episode of Utopia or The
Office as more details about the oratory fairy came ground
and came to light. Then, to top it off, the
Transport Minister refused to confirm or deny whether an advisory

(00:34):
group had suggested Key we Rail no longer run the
Cookstrait fairies. The Maritime Union says it looks that way.
So a couple of weeks ago we spoke to Duncan Roy,
our general manager of Into Islander, after the fairy was
successfully refloated. We celebrated the good news and the lack
of damage to the ferry, but Roy was hesitant to
comment on the government pointing the finger very directly at

(00:55):
the company for their standard of asset management. He diplomatically
referred to a formal investigation. And you have to wonder
if that's because Into Ireland and knew what up that
human error caused the ferry to slide on into the
beach at this stage. Look, who knows why an autopilot
was turned on and then this execute button was pushed.

(01:16):
But knowing that's what happened makes you think differently about
the photos of the beached faerry. For all of us
who weren't passengers, all businesses directly impacted, it suddenly looks comical,
like say, taking bolts out of a power tower and
then watching it fall over. None of us are perfect.

(01:37):
We are human. We all do silly things at times.
For a while, I had a habit of driving off
with a cup of tea on the roof of my car.
Hence my children gave me a plastic keep cup. But
some mistakes have a greater impact than others, so I'm
not surprised. The question has been asked where the key
we Rail should continue running the Fairies, But if not them,
who and how we're going to deal with the replacement

(01:59):
of the fairies and the land side infrastructure. A big
picture plan needs to be in place before we start
making other change is like creating a new entity to
run the fairies. It is clearly a complex business with
specific challenges, and maybe those who know it best should
hold the reins for a little longer until we know

(02:19):
where the business is heading. The government received a report
from the Independent Ferry Advisory Group a few weeks ago.
Decisions are yet to be made about the recommendations it contains.
Once that's done, it will have to go to Cabinet,
so it may take some time. But the government scraped
the previous plan, so the onus is on them to
get moving. In the meantime, though, I suggest into Irelander

(02:41):
just step up, own up, do themselves a favor, move
on from the grounding.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks it Be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.