The Greens have been shrill, especially the child MP, over the MV Rena. But John Armstrong’s article this morning exposes them and their priorities:
Hughes was quick to put Joyce on notice for the supposed slow reaction of Maritime New Zealand.
But not as quick as the Greens would like people to believe.
The fate of the Rena was such a pressing priority for the Greens that they did not see fit to set down a parliamentary question to Joyce on the Thursday before last even though the Rena had struck the Astrolabe reef some 36 hours earlier.
Hughes was instead on the case of another navigation-challenged wanderer of the high seas, quizzing Fisheries Minister Phil Heatley as to whether the penguin Happy Feet had come to an unhappy end as by-catch in the net of a sub-Antarctic trawler.
While Hughes was otherwise engaged, the preliminary stages of what will be an intensely complex salvage operation were already well under way in part because Joyce had given the ship’s owners the hurry up.
The following day saw Hughes switch his attention to the Rena, starting a political circus which continued unabated this week.
So contrary to the Greens, Labour’s and the media hysteric cries of inaction there was in fact plenty of action happening onboard MV Rena from the very first day. I wonder whether Gareth Hughes will apologise for his actions in alarming the population for political gain?
