University of Canterbury associate professor Ricardo Bello Mendoza joins The Front Page to unpack the engineering lessons from Moa Point and what it means for our future.
Two of the capital’s top Labour Party representatives are publicly at odds over whether the public is getting straight answers on the Moa Point sewage plant failure.
The party’s Wellington issues spokeswoman Ayesha Verrall called out “radio silence” over the situation in an interview last week, comments the mayor hassince criticised as unfair.
“It was good the mayor and Wellington Water fronted, but I think most Wellingtonians feel like we don’t have enough information,” Verrall told Newstalk ZB Wellington Mornings host Nick Mills last Thursday.
After sharing those details in an interview with RNZ, chief executive Pat Dougherty was pulled from speaking to media and the council took over the communications response, a call made by Wellington Mayor Andrew Little.
Little said that decision was made to “stop the speculation” and to focus on getting a review together.
Since then, questions have remained unanswered about what the early warning signs were, what could have caused the failure, and who may be liable.
But Verrall, who is running for the city’s Wellington North electorate, appears to have taken issue with the mayor’s approach, telling Wellingtonians in her regular radio slot “it’s not good enough to kick everything to a review and then we hear radio silence.”
“We’re not getting enough information, what’s blocked? What’s the machinery that’s not working? Where’s the replacement coming from? These sorts of things.”
Ayesha Verrall told Newstalk ZB it’s not good enough for officials to keep quiet on the disaster just because a review is taking place. Photo / Mark Mitchell
“Last week we had the reporting that everyone’s lawyered up and we’re not able to get answers, it’s incredibly frustrating for Wellingtonians,” she said.
While Labour supports the Government’s independent inquiry, Verrall said she did not believe it would provide timely answers for Wellingtonians.
Responding to his former caucus colleague’s claims, Little said “I don’t think that’s very fair.”
The Labour mayor said Wellington Water has provided regular daily updates and have “beefed up” their website, but said many facts of the incident are still unknown.
“That’s what we want the independent review team to do,” Little told the Herald on Monday.
“Stuff is getting out there, but if there’s nothing new to report, then there’s nothing new to report, nothing has changed,” he said.
Asked whether it was good enough the cause of the failure may not be known for months given the timeline of the review, rather than when it is known, Little said he had asked the minister that the review report in two stages.
He said the Crown Review Team should share its findings of the cause as early as possible.
“And then the other stuff, which is, was the plant built correctly, are there design flaws, was there governance failures or whatever - that can come later because that’s about where does responsibility lie.”
Wellington Mayor Andrew Little directed Wellington Water not to do interviews speculating on the cause of the plant failure, and is standing by the response. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Little, a former Labour leader who ran as mayor on the party’s ticket, said he had not spoken to Verrall about the situation.
“Look, Ayesha’s got her criticism, that’s fine, she’s talking about what she’s seeing and hearing, no doubt from others, I’m telling you what is happening,” he said.
He said “no crisis response is perfect” but he is satisfied that enough regular information is being made public.
In a statement, Verrall said she and her party “fully support the Crown review”.
“It was great that the mayor heard the concerns of Wellingtonians at the recent public meeting,” she said.
“Our beaches are an important part of Wellington’s vibrant environment and we all want to see this issue fixed as swiftly as possible.”
Ethan Manera is a Wellington-based journalist covering Wellington issues, local politics and business in the capital. He can be emailed at ethan.manera@nzme.co.nz.
