Consistency - Whale Oil style

The right wing blogger Whale Oil has been throwing that H word around a lot today, accusing all in sundry of 'utter hypocrisy' for saying one thing now and another thing at another time.

Yet only last week Whale Oil celebrated the resignation of Porirua City Councillor Hemi Matenga as 'One less Labour Trougher'. "Bring shame and humiliation down upon their heads until they resign". "Good riddance, now pursue him for his salary for non-performance"

Matenga missed four consecutive council meetings, and subsequently resigned from the council.

But what did Whale Oil say only a few months back, when Eden-Albert Community Board member Ryan Hicks missed four meetings and had to be sacked from the Board?

"The left are want to bang on about equal rep­re­sen­ta­tion and trans­parency in democ­racy but when it comes to feather-bedding for their own they are a lit­tle more quiet about all that. Rocky from the Stan­dard aka Rochelle Rees has just been appointed by the City-Vision major­ity on the Eden-Albert Com­mu­nity Board to replace an elected C&R rep­re­sen­ta­tive (Ryan Hicks) who failed to turn up for 4 con­sec­u­tive meet­ings. Whilst on the sur­face this looks like a mat­ter of replac­ing an AWOL rep­re­sen­ta­tive, in fact Ryan Hicks appears to have been hounded from the role by the nasty spite­ful City Vision mem­bers on the Com­mu­nity Board, mak­ing life unbear­able for Mr Hicks at meet­ings, so much so that he no longer came to the meetings."

The board member in question happened to be from the right wing Citizens and Ratepayers ticket, the National party in local drag.

At the time Citizens and Ratepayers HQ bought out the smears in an attempt to deflect from the fact they selected a representative who was simply not doing his job. CityRat boss John Slater (and Dad of a Whale) told the central leader "City Vision has treated him quite shabbily. He has been poorly treated and it's simply disgraceful"*. Somehow I suspect the Slaters believe this sort of compassion for missing meetings should only apply to the blue team, as there is a big difference between this and calling for 'shame and humiliation'.

In constructing his little conspiracy theory, Whale Oil also neglected to mention Rees was the next highest polling candidate in Eden Albert- making her the logical replacement in a situation where a by-election was not going to be held. A much clearer example of a gerrymander was in Maungakiekie. Following his election as local MP, CityRat Pesta Sam Lotu-liga opted to stay on the City Council, double dipping in other words, just long enough to avoid a by-election in the council seat. He then got his mates to vote that the seat stayed vacant (the next highest polling candidate was Labour's Rosie Brown). Essentially Lotu-liga cheated his constituents from being fully represented at council for the sake of the political convenience of the CityRats. While trying to juggle both jobs, Lotu-liga missed Council meetings too.

Whale Oil accusing anyone of being a hypocrite or a party hack are claims as hollow as an echo chamber.

* Central Leader (4/11/09), "Member of board sacked"

PS: I have thrown out a few old newspapers tonight - this shows it always pays to read them again!

Bob Parker sets up sale of Red Bus company

No Right Turn has highlighted how the Government appointed review of Environment Canterbury is an undemocratic farmer coup against Canterbury ratepayers. Apparently its a failure not to allow farmers to fill Canterbury waterways with as much cow shit as they want, and the review panel are seeking to replace ECan with an unelected 'commission' to push through their agenda.

To make matters worse, the Government appointed Wyatt Creech to lead the review, despite his company Open Country Cheese being found guility for illegally polluting land, rivers and streams as a means to increase profit.

But there is another agenda at play here too, and Christchurch Mayor (Sideshow) Bob Parker appears to be right in the thick of it. Christchurch and Timaru city councils are looking to take control of the region's public transport from ECan, and due to ideologically driven restrictions of current legislation this would force the city council to sell the Red Bus Company. So Sideshow Bob is pushing privatisation by stealth.

Red Bus is currently 100% owned by Christchurch City Holdings, which acts as the holding company for Christchurch City Council's trading assets. Christchurch is currently the only major city in New Zealand which has true electronic integrated ticketing across all bus and ferry operators and this has been operational since 2003. Determining factors in this success are likely to be that the City Council owned the major bus company and that Stagecoach/Infratil never made it to Christchurch. In the case of integrated ticketing, ECan succeeded where other regional authorities failed.

This is what the review into ECAN says about the regional council's responsibilities for managing public transport.

"Christchurch City Council is strongly of the view that the present arrangement leads to material additional costs due to the overlaps in responsibility between Christchurch City and ECan, and that this resource would be better applied to improving public transport services. Rather than making specific recommendations to address perceived issues, the Review Group feels that it is appropriate that the Commission initiate a review to consider the optimum arrangement for the management and operation of the public transport fleet within the Region. The overwhelming bulk of this activity is within Christchurch, however we note that three other Districts are also serviced by public transport managed by ECan. The Commission we have recommended to replace ECan would act on that review when completed."

The same strategy is in effect. Remove an elected regional council and replace it with unelected commissioners who will be appointed by Ministers. No doubt they will give the big thumbs up to changes to transport management if a side effect happens to be the privatisation of Red Bus. This is being proposed at the same time Auckland is up in arms at proposals that Ministers will appoint the initial directors of Auckland Transport, under the new Super City arrangements, with the current proposed structure offering elected councillors very limited ability to represent their constituents on transport issues. The same strategy is in effect.

Citizens of the People's Republic of Christchurch will not want the bus company sold. Since a National Government in the 1990s forced the City Council to sell Southpower the citizens have fought off the privateers more successfully than in Auckland or Wellington.

In 2006 the Christchurch City Council proposed selling effective control of the Lyttelton Port Company to a Hong Kong Multinational Hutchison Port Holdings and their was a significant public outcry. The same year the Council removed Red Bus and its contracting business City Care from a list of strategic assets to be protected. While Hutchison thankfully decided to walk away from the deal, these changes were designed to clear the way for the privateers in the future.

Sideshow Bob must know that taking over control of transport will necessitate the sale of Red Bus. Not surprisingly he has not been upfront about this. Given Bob's previous mismanagement, some citizens will wonder if the expected proceeds from the sale of the company will end up propping up another one of David Henderson's dodgy property deals....

Auckland rail stations to prop up a debt ridden KiwiRail?

The decision the National Government to abandon the regional fuel tax, but promise to fund Auckland's rail electrification left a number of other significant transport projects unfunded. This included railway station upgrades, ferry terminals and (long fought for) integrated ticketing.

The Auckland Regional Council (ARC) based its budgets on income that was expected from the regional fuel tax, only to find the rug pulled out from under it by unilateral action from central government. Its not the ARC being irresponsible here*.

Now it appears National may have had an ulterior motive. To cover the shortfall, the ARC may be forced to cede the region's control of 41 railway stations to government owned KiwiRail, with Mike Lee calling the move a 'technical confiscation'.

If another Government was attempting to pull the same trick and the train stations happened to be privately owned National would have been crying communism and predicting the end of the capitalist world order. That said, its a pity Labour were not this hard nosed with Toll Holdings, the former owners of the railways.

I don't discount there may be strategic advantages to having KiwiRail own the stations - but the way National is going about it is very underhand, particularly as they are dealing with locally owned public assets. The ARC is likely to be the more responsible public owner at present, particularly when National is attempting to run spending cuts across the public service.

At the same time Transport Minister and former Hollow Man Steven Joyce is announcing new investment in KiwiRail as a 'stimulus package', when it is nothing of the sort. Instead Joyce is merely re announcing investments made by the previous government, and forcing KiwiRail to take on more debt as a means of gaining long overdue new locomotives. He is also cutting public transport funding to build more roads. In other words, cynical public relations spin many people would just call lies.

There may be a link between Joyce's demands to reorganise the train set in Auckland and in KiwiRail nationally. By acquiring Auckland's rail stations KiwiRail gains significant assets and land to add to its balance sheet. This would only encourage National to load yet more debt onto KiwiRail - is this the grand plan?

* One wonders Stephen Joyce, as one of the more 'cynically motivated' Nats has an ulterior motive for attempting to undermine the ARC, with the Royal Commission into Auckland Governance soon to report, and Mike Lee likely to be the main challenger to John Bank's quest to be 'Lord Mayor' of Auckland. Hmmm

Does National party strategy come from the CityRats?

Chris Trotter poses an interesting question. Did the success of the Citizens and Ratepayers Campaign in the last Auckland local body elections provide a 'dry run' for the general election campaign of National led by John Key? Is the same strategy at work?

"Like Banksie, Key is promising that he and his followers have changed. That they’re no longer the flinty-faced mob they used to be under Don Brash. Oh dear me no, they have turned over a new leaf, and become kinder, gentler tories: National-Lite. Also, like Banksie and his C&R strategists, the Nats are relying on the voters’ rapidly waning affection for the incumbent left-wing adminstration to carry them into power without having to first undergo too much in the way of intense media scrutiny.

Could this explain the Opposition’s extreme reluctance to talk about too much policy detail? In case somebody ends up disagreeing - i.e. attracting attention and making news? Is Key hoping to take down Helen Clark’s government in the same way that Banksie took down Dick Hubbard’s - by default?"

Trotter believes the Left opened the way for the CityRats to win in an environment where there was little public scrutiny of their ideas or what they stood for. I largely agree with Trotter's analysis here. I would also note that a compliant media was also a factor.

This suggests a Labour party general election campaign based around 'keeping National out' is less likely to succeed than a campaign based on big ideas (like interest free student loans). Announcing progressive policy is more likely to force the Nats to talk about policy in a way they wish to avoid. Act's Roger Douglas may have this effect too. Labour would not need to run the negative message, as National and Act will scare the horses all by themselves, just like Maurice Williamson did with his $50 a week estimate of road tolls.

I posted the following as a comment in response to Chris' post - I thought I might as well note it here too.

Another related issue is the failure of the centre-left/left to come up with a credible electable candidate for the Auckland Mayoralty for as long as I can remember. While Hubbard won in 2004, he ran a dreadful campaign in 2007. Hubbard’s politics are centrist at best - I am sure many voted for him because he was on the left of Banks, which is not saying much. In 2001 there was the fracas created by the Labour wing of City Vision endorsing a failed National party cabinet minister who also ran a dreadful campaign, and lost badly.

Could we please have a centre-left candidate at the next mayoral elections who people of the left actually want to vote for? A candidate who can generate some enthusiasm around local body issues and encourages a greater turnout?

Inner city drinking bans solve nothing

Wellington City Council intends to impose a 24 hour ban on drinking in public in the central city. Apparently Wellington is the only main centre that has not implemented this knee jerk good for nothing measure. What a shame they feel the need to follow suit.

The WCC and the police claim they need to ban everyone from consuming alcohol in order to deal with a small handful of 'drunk vagrants'. But there is a much more appropriate charge already on the statue books - its called drunk and disorderly. The mere fact the WCC and the police are asking for greater powers suggests said vagrants are not being disorderly enough in order to be charged. So the real crime committed by the vagrants appears to be their existence.

Wellington mayor Kerry Prendergast and local business claim the vagrants put Wellington's position as a 'tourist destination' at risk. Yet places like London and Rome get many more tourists than Wellington - they also have many more visible 'vagrants' (I say this partly in jest)

Apparently the measure has been pushed by inner city businesses and bar owners, who do seem to have a habit of assuming public spaces ought really to controlled like their own private spaces. The major winner out of an inner city drinking ban are bar owners. Why do I suspect such a ban will lead to higher drink prices in said establishments?

A couple of friends of my brother were caught by a similar alcohol ban in Christchurch. They were forced to go through diversion for the crime of sharing a single can of beer while they went outside for some fresh air. They also faced a night in 'the cells'. Stupid, ridiculous and disproportionate.

A few years ago I heard there was a real shortage of short term emergency accommodation for men in Wellington. I can't imagine there has been a significant improvement in this problem. For what reasons are these 'vagrants' on the streets? Sadly it appears asking questions like this would be far too much like dealing with the real issue for the WCC. Cheap and nasty political expedience wins the day.

Good on Iona Pannett for being the sole councillor to oppose this silly ban.

Shame on Ray Ahipene-Mercer, Ngaire Best, Stephanie Cook, Jo Coughlan, Andy Foster, Leonie Gill, Rob Goulden, Ian McKinnon, John Morrison, Bryan Pepperall, Celia Wade-Brown, Hayley Wain. Lets hope some of these councillors come off the bandwagon moonshine and come to their senses.

Information on how to make a submission on the proposed bylaw is here. Submissions close 8th May 2008.

Bob Parker says the poor are not his problem

Looking over the voting papers for the local body elections one is left wondering who most of the candidates are, and more importantly what they stand for.

Having moved from my home town of Christchurch to Auckland, I now feel like I am behind on years of political intelligence. Genuine lefties in Auckland please share.

One thing that can be of great service to voters is candidate surveys. Candidate blurbs are invariably full of meaningless, meant to be reassuring banalities - in contrast surveys encourage candidates to nail their policy colours to the mast.

Stumbling across the website of the Southern Local Government Officers Union (SLGOU) I was very pleased to find this survey of Christchurch Mayoral Candidates. The two front runners for Mayor in 2007 are Megan Woods of 2021, and Bob Parker, a so called independent. I thought the answer to this question in particular highlighted a clear difference between the candidates.

SLGOU: "What if any example Council should set to overcome rising income inequality in the community?"

Megan Woods: "We need councillors who are committed to the creation of a socially just society and considers its success by the treatment of the most vulnerable in Christchurch."

Bob Parker: "It is not our job to resolve what, in my view, is a political question best directed at Central Government."

Parker was asked to give a single example, yet he failed to do so. Despite being a councillor now for some years, Parker obviously does not know of, or perhaps more importantly does not see it as council business to support ANY of the initiatives aimed at making life easier for Christchurch's less well off citizens.

There is the 70 year history of Christchurch City Council (CCC) owned social housing for a start. In fact the CCC have a stated policy: “To contribute to the community’s social well-being by ensuring safe, accessible and affordable housing is available to people on low incomes including elderly persons, and people with disabilities”.

If you are in a council flat, or know someone who is, don't vote for Bob Parker to be the landlord. If he is given the mayoral chains, he obviously will not see the poor as his problem.

Another mayoral hopeful, Byron Clark, gave another example of how the council could help those on low incomes and the planet at the same time - free public transport.

If I was still in Christchurch I would be happily voting for Megan Woods. Six months ago many people thought the Christchurch Mayoralty was going to be a one Bob race. Megan has run a campaign based on clear policies and it is pleasing to see that she is picking up support for this stance. Even the Press is predicting a real contest.

The SLGOU ought to be congratuated for their survey - its a worthy service to both their union members and the people of Christchurch. Faced with candidates who may slash council budgets and staff, a union would not be representing the interests of its members by staying silent under the misguided guise of political neutrality.

It would be good to make up a list of publically available candidate surveys for all the local bodies in New Zealand. If you know of one, please share the link in the comments. I would find one on the Auckland City Council candidates particularly useful :)

Moore is Less and Less is More

News just in - Christchurch mayor Gary Moore has announced he will not seek a forth term as mayor. Good. Mayor Moore had been drifting a good distance from any recognisable centre-left direction in the last few years.

He proposed part-privatising the Lyttleton Port despite the fact this policy ran directly contrary to the public assets policy of the 2021 political grouping that he was elected under. The Keep Our Port Public campaign can take some of the credit for exposing the hypocrisy of Moore's position over the proposed port sale.

Gary's plans to close down libraries and local swimming pools spurned a great deal of opposition in the community.

He appointed Dr Lesley McTurk as city manager (CEO in newspeak). "McTurkey", as she is known in some quarters, has has sought to reorganise the council and its staff according to the tired old new-right songsheet. A large proportion of staff have left the council in the last few years, with a great deal of institutional knowledge being lost. There have been many instances of staff being treated poorly.

I really hope Tim Barnett stands for the Christchurch mayoralty - at this stage he would have my vote.

KOPP campaign docks in Dunedin

The campaign to stop the sale of Lyttelton to a multinational port operator has now spread to Dunedin.

The Dunedin branch of Keep Our Port Public met yesterday. Green MP Metiria Turei and Victor Billot (Maritime Union of New Zealand and Alliance) spoke at the inaugural meeting.

The Otago Branch of KOPP aims to keep all ports in New Zealand in public ownership, and ensure both Lyttelton and Port Otago are kept out of the hands of privatisers. KOPP Otago also support the Maritime Union campaign to oppose the national push by multinationals to privatise ports.

"The issue is often portrayed as wheeling and dealing by big companies," says Victor Billot. "But the underlying and important issue is not about ports beating each other, it's about ports being operated in the public interest, in a responsible way, and that's what our campaign is about."

He says the involvement of Port Otago in purchasing an interest in the Lyttelton Port Company has created strong interest in the issue nationally. Mr Billot says the campaign will become a national one if there are any more moves to privatize ports.

"Publicly owned ports provide an excellent income to the citizens of New Zealand which is why they are such a juicy target for the 'pirate privatizers' who want to gain control."

Keep Our Port Public was formed in Christchurch in February 2006 after the business arm of the Christchurch City Council attempted to push forward a complex deal that would have seen the operational arm of the port of Lyttelton pass into majority ownership of Hong Kong based multinational port operator Hutchison. The deal is currently stalled after Port Otago purchased a block of shares in Lyttelton Port Company and Hutchison withdrew.

As Victor rightly points out, the proposed sale of the Lyttlelton Port Company is much more than just a "local issue to worry Cantabs". Hutchison also expressed an interest in the Auckland Port Company, and the draft long-term community plan of the Nelson City Council states that council ownership in the Nelson Port will be 'reviewed'. We all know what that means.

Local body election decided by drawing pencils

In the recent UK local body elections the Wheathampstead ward created a dillema. For the seat based in St Albans, Hertfordshire, both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats each had 1,132 votes, after three recounts.

According to the BBC, the seat was won by the party who picked the longest pencil.

After 'drawing pencils' the Tories lost the seat to the Liberal Democrats. I could make the obvious joke about the Tories lacking lead in their pencil, but I won't :)

Categories: Politics, UK, Elections

Report on KOPP meeting Chch Town Hall 10 April 2006

The Keep Our Port Public meeting in Christchurch last night went well. I estimate around 250 people attended, making it the largest public meeting I have attended in Christchurch for some time.

Sir Kerry Burke spoke as a private individual and as a member of the local body community grouping Christchurch 2021. Burke said he remained committed to the vision statement of 2021 which clearly undertakes to retain public ownership and control of strategic trading enterprises, especially the port, the airport and power utilities. Garry Moore, the man who now wants to sell the port, was also elected on a 2021 ticket. Burke said "this proposal disadvantages all citizens, no matter where they come from. I wonder whether selling off is actually the best way to deal with our assets."

Burke described the move by Christchurch City Holdings (CCHL) as clumsy and said there was no need for desperate measures, as there was no 'financial crisis' (I was a little concerned at this point Burke might attempt to justify the selloffs that occurred during the forth Labour Government which Burke was part of - thankfully he didn't)

The stand out speech of the night came from Murray Horton of the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa. His characterisation of the recent about face of the Christchurch City Council was especially well recieved

"And it looks like there will be more to come - the Council has removed both its Red Bus Company and contracting business, City Care, from the list of strategic assets to be protected. The Mayor, Garry Moore, has swung around from being the proud Chairman of the People's Republic to being the Chairman of Christchurch Inc. run, by for and of, Big Business. Actually in honour of who is actually running the show in Tuam Street, I think it should be named the corporate Republic of McTurkey."

[cue biggest laugh of the night]

Referring of course to Lesley McTurk, the City Manager appointed by Moore who has overseen a massive clearout of experienced staff at the same time many people wonder whether McTurk is really acting as an additional and unelected City councilor.

Unfortunately I didn't hear a great deal of RMTU Secretary Wayne Butson's speech as I was busy distributing petition forms around the hall.

Trevor Hansen of the Rail and Maritime Union explained how free trade agreements were assisting the shipping companies in creating 'ports of convenience' - a system that will give large shipping companies more power to drive down wages and export profits at the expense of local communities.

A 2004 issue of Transport International describes what a "port of convenience" looks like: "Inexperienced, untrained, casual non-union labour is gradually replacing skilled unionised workforces in may ports, as terminal operators succumb to pressure from shipowners, shippers and politicians to embrace fundamentalist market ideologies. Ultimately this means the introduction of many labour cost saving policies: reducing the standard of working conditions, introducing total flexibility of working times and tasks, employing unorganised workers and flying in cheap labour from countries where trade unions are forbidden or severely restricted."

Green party MP Metiria Turei explained how the sale of local assets to overseas interests has significant negative impacts on a national scale, such as our horrendous current account deficit. Metiria also found it was shocking there had been no consultation about the proposed sale. I liked her speech - probably because it had a strong focus on the privatisation issue and maintaining public ownership of strategic assets - so it came acrosss as a real lefty speech :)

A few hours before the meeting Christchurch Labour MPs (except Dalziel) released a statement expressing "serious concerns" about the proposal of the city council to sell part of the port to Hutchison. Better late than never! KOPP spokesperson Murray Horton immediately called on the MPs to translate their opposition into Government action.

While the Press reports that no-one from CCHL or LPC attended the meeting we have since found out there was a CCHL mole in attendence, who declined to make him or herself known despite a polite request from the chair. One person owned up to being on the City Council and was welcomed.

Campaign against sale of Lyttelton Port gathers steam

The Keep Our Port Public coalition (KOPP) is holding a public meeting in Christchurch opposing the sale of Lyttelton Port Company to Hutchison, a Hong Kong based multinational corporation. The sale represents the restart of the agenda to privatise publicly owned assets, and there are good indications the sale of the port could be followed by the privatisation of the bus company and Citycare.

For some background on this issue see my earlier post here.

We already have an impressive list of speakers for the meeting, including

• Sir Kerry Burke (the current chair of Environment Canterbury but I don't think he is speaking in this capacity)
• Green MP Metiria Turei
• Maritime Union of New Zealand
• Wayne Butson, Rail and Maritime Transport Union
• Murray Horton, CAFCA

So at 7.30 pm on Monday 10 April come along to the Limes Room of the Christchurch Town Hall and stop the privatisation of our port!

An opinion piece by Murray Horton of KOPP, 'Moore's mighty sellout' was published in the Press on Friday, and Murray has already received a lot of positive feedback about the article.

Murray says the proposed port sale sets a dangerous precedent for the future of other publicly owned assets in Christchurch.
"This is the latest move by the Council ideologues who want to convert the People's Republic into Christchurch Inc. It graunches back into life a process that was stalled and discredited back in the unlamented 1990s, namely privatisation. This is the first such sale here since National forced it to sell Southpower. But this one has not been forced on it by anyone else, it is all the Council's own work. It will set off a stampede for port "restructuring and rationalisation" around the country, a process that progressed as far as corporatisation during the 1980s' Rogernomics pandemic. And it looks like there will more to come - the Council has removed both the Red Bus Company and City Care, from its list of strategic assets to be protected. It would now appear that the Mayor's policy on publicly-owned city assets is that less is definitely Moore. It sets a dangerous precedent."

A leaflet and poster advertising the meeting is currently filling up email inboxes all over the country. Once the leaflet, poster and Murray's article are available online I will post up a link. Till then I am happy to email them to interested people :)

Tags: Politics, Lyttelton, Corporates, Hutchison, Privatisation, Christchurch

Toll Holdings bullies with Big Fat Ferry

Just uploaded my latest published piece 'Arrogant Toll Bullies Small District Council with Big Fat Ferry' to the articles section of the site. It appeared in the December edition of the CAFCA magazine Foreign Control Watchdog.

In August, Toll Holdings introduced a new ferry to the Cook Straight run, the Kaitaki, and immediately began sailing at 20 knots through Marlborough Sounds. Toll refuses to follow the rules set by the local Marlborough District Council that require the ferry operator to gain a resource consent in order to travel more than 15 knots in the Sounds.

These rules, known as 'Variation Three', are designed to protect people and the environment from the negative impact of large ferry-created waves. While Toll is appealing the decision of the Council through the Environment Court, the Australian owned corporate refuses to abide by the rules as they stand.

Toll claims the 15 knot speed restriction has no scientific validity and that the Council has failed to show adverse effects arising from a 20 knot speed. Yet as the Press says in its editorial of September 27 2004, in reference to the effect of the wake on the foreshore, "it is hard to believe that this could be environmentally benign. There are also concerns of property damage and potential risk to human life". Ferry wake can also contribute to erosion and land sliding.

Toll's actions have been widely condemned by the local community and the mainstream media, with the company regularly accused of 'arrogance' and acting as a 'bully'. Both the Marlborough Express and the Christchurch Press have called on Toll to slow down the Kaitaki, and expressed the hope the District Council is successful in winning its case in the Environment Court. The court battle resumes on the 30th of January.

Go, Go, and good speed Marlborough District Council! :)

PS: I nicknamed the Kaitaki the 'big fat ferry' on account of the new boat being 30 metres longer and 3 metres wider than the Arahura and Aratere ferries.