Otago University's Rankings & Billion $ Economic Mistake: by Appointing a Labour Party Vice Chancellor it all but ensured losing its Med School Duopoly

In his interview with the NZ Herald, the Otago Vice Chancellor and Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson all but proved his appointment by that University's Council to the $629,000 paying "top job" was a mistake. It may cost Otago, and folks living in Dunedin who rely on their hospital, dearly. The interview mainly asked about his plans. His answers were pure politics. Given he has little to no academic background, he's spending much of his time learning on the job. Indeed, the title of the Herald article is that he's "settling" into it. Extraordinarily, he admits, "I’ll be listening and learning as I go around the areas that I’m less familiar with". I'd suggest to learn about the job he first enroll in a Masters, then PhD, and then spend 20 years teaching & writing academic articles. But none of that is for him.

One cause Robertson has latched onto emerged in the interview - his staunch opposition to the prospect Waikato may get NZ's third medical school, which would hugely affect Otago by breaking its duopoly with Auckland. That proposal is referenced in National's Coalition Agreement with ACT-NZ First. Why will it probably go ahead? Because by Otago appointing National's arch political enemy to its Vice Chancellor job, it has turned that University's opposition to Waikato Medical School into partisan politics. National supports it, whereas the Labour VC of Otago, opposes. Since National holds power, it can make Robertson (and Labour) look bad, by going against his wishes. Turning one of the most important health-care decisions in NZ into pure left-right politics rather than making the best decision for the nation is, for want of a better word, revolting. Had Otago appointed an eminent medical doctor who was non-partisan to the VC job, then its arguments would have carried far more weight. When I worked at Imperial College London, which is dominated by its large medical school, much like Otago, that is exactly what it did. It appointed Sir Richard Sykes as Rector (the same as our VCs). He had been an eminent medical researcher and former CEO of Glaxo Smith Kline Beecham, a large pharmaceutical company. How did Sykes do? Imperial now ranks in the world top 10, above Yale & Berkeley, and just behind Cambridge & Princeton in The Times Higher Rankings, in which Otago fell to 350-400.

It gets worse. VC Grant Robertson referenced the need for Otago Medical School to have a top class teaching hospital, in the form of Dunedin Hospital, to go with it, otherwise the future of its medical school (which my Dad attended) would be in doubt. Again, since that issue is heavily politicized right now, Robertson's arguments carry little weight. Maybe he's making trouble about Dunedin hospital not to protect the interests of Otago University, but instead for political reasons, since by doing so he can cost the Nats votes in favor of Labour. We will never know. Should Otago's Council have thought it was smart appointing someone squarely aligned with Labour to its top job, then its probably gone & cost that University not only its medical school duopoly, but the revenues to go with it, and more rankings declines. The best Robertson offered in his unclear interview was a vague reference to opening an Otago Queenstown campus since apparently then it could tap into that place being NZ's new Silicon Valley. What? Maybe a graduate school of skiing would be more popular.

Sources:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/former-labour-finance-minister-grant-robertson-settles-into-vice-chancellor-role-at-university-of-otago/PCWFTMWHQFCPXFXXQWHM6QOTKU/

https://www.politik.co.nz/the-complexities-of-the-dunedin-hospital-crisis/#google_vignette

Is there a (Really Big) Cover Up regards to what NZ Navy Ship Manawanui was actually doing in Samoa?

The outstanding African American economist Thomas Sowell once said, "When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear". Today's Blog is about finding the truth to help the people of Samoa, who are perplexed as to why their government has been surprisingly quiet about the sinking of NZ Navy Ship Manawanui. Today, their papers scream, "Manawanui sinking: Fish covered in oil, huge leak confirmed .. Fishermen on the coast of Safata told to discard fish covered in oil from HMNZS Manawanui as authorities confirm leakage of 200,000 litres of diesel". By contrast, the NZ Defense Force last update says, "Maritime NZ has not seen any oil damage on shore. A RNZ Air Force Poseidon flew over the site on Thursday, confirming a light slick that stretches away from the mainland out to sea". Defense Minister Collins should be ashamed for letting propaganda worthy of the worst kind of non-democratic regimes to air on official NZ government websites.

So what's going on? Based on the $NZ 600 million cost of the Rena salvage off Tauranga harbour, the cost of salvaging Manawanui would likely come in at more than $1 billion. The Navy doesn't have the capability. Much would have to be out-sourced to private companies. Its also hard to see how the costs of restoring the reef, and water quality of the lagoon, and protecting the livelihoods of Samoans who live along its South Coast, would come in at less than $1 billion. So our estimate of the NZ government's liability is the best part of $2 billion. There's no way Finance Minister Willis is going to pay that sum. My understanding of what has happened is that the Navy has been ordered to deal with the situation using its existing (limited) resources, so as to create no NZ government budgetary hole that will threaten the spending plans of the Finance Minister & undermine her chances of winning the next election. Curiously, the HMNZS Canterbury has been sent up to Samoa to help, whose own Commander has been placed "under investigation" - so the ship is sailing there under an "Acting Commander", appointed on an "interim basis".

In terms of what really went on in Samoa, it appears to be an impossibility that out of all the places in the world's largest ocean it could be sailing, the Manawanui just happened to be in extraordinarily close proximity to the Sinalei Reef Resort Hotel, where in nine days time King Charles & Queen Camilla will be staying for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. The idea the ship chose to map the one reef out of millions in the Pacific Ocean, right offshore from Charlie & Millie's lagoon has odds more remote than winning the NZ Lottery. If you've ever lived for a time in cities like Beirut, like me, where conspiracy theories abound, you certainly don't need to jump to that level to believe the Manawanui was there by request from Samoa's government to help secure the resort, due to worries someone, maybe foreign terrorists, could get access to it from the sea. Should that be the case, it is an embarrassment of biblical proportions for both the NZ & Samoan Governments, since to lose a ship & pollute a chunk of the nation at a cost of billions, kill wild-life & endanger the food supply of humans for generations which can't be fixed for any amount of $, all for the purpose of making Charlie & Camilla's stay in the islands a little more relaxing, is ridiculous.