Uh, oh: Federal Government to seek full cost recovery for Antarctic expedition rescue
Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt yesterday said costs, estimated at about $2.4 million, would be sought from the insurer of the operators of the vessel.
The MV Akademik Shokalskiy, chartered by the University of NSW-associated Australasian Antarctic Expedition to retrace the steps of explorer Sir Douglas Mawson, became stuck in thick sea ice on Christmas Eve.
The 52 passengers were rescued by the Aurora Australis on January 2.
Mr Hunt said the Commonwealth would seek compensation for the recovery effort.
“We will be seeking full cost recovery through insurers for the up to $2.4 million costs incurred by the Australian government,” he said.
“We have a duty to protect life at sea and we do that willingly.
“However, what we see here is that there are some questions as to whether or not the ship was detained by the action of those on board within an area the captain had identified as potentially being subject to being frozen in.
“I think we have a duty on behalf of taxpayers to seek full cost recovery.”
Source: http://www.news.com.au/national/federal-government-to-seek-full-cost-recovery-for-antarctic-expedition-rescue/story-fncynjr2-1226809033585
h/t to Lucia at the Blackboard
Related: Battle begins over Antarctic rescue bill
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I’m betting that with this revelation…
About 2.30pm the weather deteriorated. At the same time Captain Kiselev saw slabs of sea ice moving into the open water channel from which the ship had entered the area. He called for everyone to return.
A passenger standing near Professor Turney overheard the voyage leader, Greg Mortimer, telling him over the radio to bring passengers back to the ship so it can leave.
But minutes later, Professor Turney drove six more passengers into the field.
…the insurers will likely say the incident was caused by neglience on the part of Dr. Chris Turney, and toss the claim back in their laps.
UPDATE: Gosh, the hardships these Guardian guys faced is just inspiring. So is the lack of self-awareness.
And finally, @loztopham gets his peanut butter milkshake. At Dubai airport. pic.twitter.com/CJaVVTrp4e
— Alok Jha (@alokjha) January 24, 2014
Excellent!
I’d wager that if Gillard & Co were still in government, they would have insisted that the tax payer foot the bill for their green chums….
Well – the only thing we can hope is that their insurance premiums will be increased as a result, because, otherwise, there will be no real consequence to the university. Maybe, in the best of all possible worlds, their carrier will drop them or, at the least, force them to obtain additional cost insurance riders on all future ‘expeditions’ subject to the review of an actuary.
that would make you stop and think before approving a propaganda junket (oops) research expedition.
Hopefully, the insurers will then sue Professor Turney for full recovery of costs.
Federal Government to seek full cost recovery from federally subsidized university.
No decent sized insurance company could be held liable for the incompetence of these twits. Too much gravita$ to be punked like that.
Well, good. Stupidity should hurt.
A brilliant and creative reader had posted some time back ,on one of these Turney expedition threads, the idea that Anthony should sell WUWT branded popcorn.
I have a feeling 2014 will be a great year for it.
Polar Vortex got you shut in? Trapped by miles of ice? How about a steamin’ hot bowl of Watts Up With That!
Insurance agency to pay huh? Nice one. I wonder how this will affect the premiums for future ‘fantastic voyages’ like it.
This is surely going to discourage others from embarking on similar planet saving missions. Who will be left to provide us with the cold hard facts on the ground? We’re doomed.
$2.4M is a small price to pay to save the planet “for the children and other living things.”
The government sues an insurance company who then sues the government. Money shuffle. Tuney was in charge and I betcha it costs him nothing.
…the insurers will likely say the incident was caused by neglience on the part of Dr. Chris Turney, and toss the claim back in their laps.
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So long as it wasn’t criminal negligence, I believe insurance will pay. Also, there are other parties that will likely seek reimbursement – China and perhaps the US (the US icebreaker was asked to assist/standby by the Australians).
What it will also do is spike Insurance costs for outings such as this in the future. Some may see that as a good thing. But there are legitimate scientific ventures that will be negatively impacted by Turney’s gross incompetence and malfeasance.
KevinM says: January 24, 2014 at 10:37 am
Federal Government to seek full cost recovery from federally subsidized university.
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You’re missing the bigger point I think. New government with different priorities. Likely future publicity stunts like this one will have great difficulty securing insurance or university backing. Off-topic but I bet eco warriors stay the hell away from Russian waters after they faced real prison terms. And of course the French simply scuttled the Rainbow Warrior…..
“I think we have a duty on behalf of taxpayers to seek full cost recovery.”
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Turney need only hold up his “Scientific Award for Excellence” and the evil tax payers will scramble like vampires before a cross.
It couldn’t happen to a more deserving bunch of fools.
This proves the corollary that seeking the deep pockets is equivalent to the rule of thumb called follow the money, eh Chris?
Well his new Frederick White Prize money ($3000) is a nice, but small, start to apply to his new debt don’t you think? I wonder how many more “prizes” he’ll be awarded to defray the cost….
Jenn Oats said-
“Well, good. Stupidity should hurt.”
We call it “Stupid Tax” here at home.
If the insurers do say Turney was to blame, even if the Government does eventually pick up the tab, the good Professor’s image is (rightly) hammered. In part because the Government will first try to have the University should pay for it if the insurers won’t.
Promoting accountability (i.e. the Developed World or Big Oil or the Denialist Camp) is a tricky thing when you have to live by the same rules as the ones you target.
Insurers are not interested in parting with money. Professor Chris(tmas) Turkey is going to be answering some very awkward questions and the insurers are not about to cut him any slack.
Insurance investigators make pit trained pit bulls look like puppies.
If the laws are similar to those in the United States, the organizers will still be liable even if their insurance doesn’t pay up. And even if it is one government organization reimbursing another, that is fair, because the rescue operation was unnecessary. Why should the budget of one government organization be gobbled up by the misdeeds of another? Perhaps Professor Turney’s superiors will find some way to clip him for his irresponsible behavior, bad publicity, and lack of judgement. And perhaps future scientific ventures will have to think twice about taking aboard tourists. Rather than offsetting the costs of the expedition, the tourists may cause costs to rise to the point where tourists will stick to tourist destinations rather than pretending that they are world explorers. Hubris!
Often the insurance will pay the claim and then sue the actual at-fault entities. That way they can obtain additional sums thru the courts for litigation costs, or other little extras, etc beyond the actual claim amount ….. It tends to keep the customers of the insurance company happier.
I hope the Americans and the Chinese also seek recovery of their costs.
If they have to pay, they would be getting off easy. There was a time when such stupidity was far more costly. There would have been no survivors.
I suspect an important cause of the rampant rise of stupidity is that there is no longer a cleansing of the stupid gene pool. The stupid survive to breed again with the rest of us paying most of the costs. The Darwin effect should be allowed to operate in full. Perhaps then, the few surviving stupids would learn not to be so stupid the next time. If not, they might well leave the gene pool a bit cleaner the next time. They will have done it to themselves.
Ignorance and “I didn’t expect THIS to happen” is no excuse. Especially when there are ample examples scattered about history to provide information about what not to do. Refuse to learn form history at your own peril and be prepared to pay the full price for the consequences of your actions.
It’s difficult for me to fathom a professional master/skipper allowing an idiot like Turney to do what he did. The skipper by law is solely responsible for the life and safety of all souls on his ship, as well as the ship physically. The skipper put his ship and passengers in a situation where everything had to go right in an environment that likely exceeded the boat’s intended build/purpose. Inexcusable. The owner/insurance will rightly be held responsible. I don’t doubt there will be an adjustment in the skipper’s future.
Richard D says: ” And of course the French simply scuttled the Rainbow Warrior…..”
Oh, and killed a member of the crew. Sorry forgot to mention that.
The two french agents eventually convicted for the killing did a short term in NZ before being allowed to finish the sentence in the care of their french employers on an island military base. (The sort of thing most people would regard as dream holiday). Doubtless they only fed on gruel and cold water by the french govt. for the duration of their sentence though.
What was your point again? I didn’t quite get where you were going with that.