4mo ago

World War II era shipwreck could trigger $200m oil spill cleanup

www.rnz.co.nz

We'll get around to it.

Seriously though, what is wrong with our governments? Why do they wait until we have a crisis before they do anything?

5 comments

From the article:
The RMS Niagara's journey to Canada was cut short when it was sunk by mines laid by the German naval cruiser the Orion in the Hauraki Gulf - the first act of war against New Zealand by Nazi Germany.
In case you were wondering, from wikipedia:
Niagara's only apparent fatality was her ship's cat, a five-year-old grey and white long-haired tom called Aussie. His mother had been Niagara's cat before him, his father was a Persian in Vancouver and Aussie was born at Suva. Aussie was put in one of the lifeboats when Niagara was being abandoned, but he jumped back aboard ship. A few days later, residents of Horahora, Whangarei claimed that a cat answering Aussie's description came ashore on a piece of driftwood, and that one of them had taken him in, but the cat escaped and had not been seen since.
But yes, we should probably do the survey. But we still need to somehow pay for the pre-emtive tax cuts so it's unlikely to happen under this government.
The costs are only 1/2 of a flag referendum. Let's get on it!
The costs of an oil spill isn't just financial..
- @ViperNZ @Ilovethebomb , thinking about it: Shouldn't the country responsible for its sinking pay for the cleanup?
  Or like with capitalism, are profits privatized and costs socialized?
  Ie is the damage done by war faring countries forgotten and is there no accountability?
  
  We declared war on Germany, and the German state that was involved in that conflict no longer exists.
  It might be worth a shot trying to get Germany to pay for it, but regardless, we just need to muck in and get it done.
  
  The German government has actually offered to help with the investigation and cleanup, although I don't have a source to hand for that.
  So yes, they have actually offered to help.