Wairua ferry decision 'hard to believe’

Press, 22 June 1985, Page 9

Wairua ferry decision 'hard to believe’

Wellington reporter “It is hard to believe that this has happened under a Labour Government,” is the reaction of the Public Service Association to the decision to scrap the Stewart Island ferry service by the Wairua.

The president of the P.S.A., Mr Colin Hicks, said that the Government should reconsider its decision urgently. When elected, the Labour Government had pledged itself to maintain public services and to oppose the dans of the previous National Government to sell off public services to private enterprise, he said. Now the Government was “flying in the teeth” of its own policy by removing an important public service and leaving Stewart Islanders to “paddle their own canoe” to the mainland for essential supplies.

The Wairua had been specially designed for Foveaux Strait conditions and had provided a reliable service for 20 years, Mr Hicks said. If the vessel had to be replaced, then she ought to be replaced with a similar vessel.

The cost to the taxpayer of maintaining the service should not be the main consideration in deciding the service’s future.

“Surely the crossing to Stewart Island should be seen as an extension of State Highway I and the cost no different from spending taxpayers’ money to maintain public roads,” Mr Hicks said. Apart from depriving about 20 people of their jobs, the Government’s decision to end the service was a bitter blow to Stewart Islanders who had battled for many years to build an effective community.