Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters has alleged a cover-up at KiwiRail over the grounding of the Aratere last month.
There were allegations from coalition government partner New Zealand First earlier this week the accident last month happened after “someone put the autopilot on, went for a coffee, and then couldn’t turn the autopilot off in time when that someone came back”.
Party leader Peters on Thursday morning appeared to distance himself from the claim, before doubling-down on it.
“But here’s the point - at the moment we heard this story, it was clear as daylight that something dramatically had gone wrong, that shouldn’t have gone wrong, and we find out it was on autopilot.” Peters said the party had sources on the boat itself, which relayed the ‘coffee break’ claim.
“I am the acting prime minister, and the reality is that we are wanting to hear the truth, but we don’t want to delay any longer. And in a way, you can say I’m asking KiwiRail [to] front up - right here right now.”
Labour leader Chris Hipkins was unimpressed with New Zealand First posting the claim to social media, rather than sharing whatever information it had with investigators.
And like any other system its only as good as its set and monitored.
Similar issue with aircraft - set altitude, heading or decent rates wrong and the plane does what its told. Airbus is taking some pretty good steps to safeguard this.
Do I think someone went to get a coffee - no. But mistakes do happen with systems and complacency - especially if everything usually goes right, 4th crossing of the day, when you fatigued.
I think winny needs to stop going for shock value and act like someone in control.
You’re definitely right, NZ first, and Winston in particular, act like they’re in opposition even when they’re in government.
That is a really good way to describe it - no actionable plans, just complaints and problems. Your great at being loud, now show there’s something behind it
It reminds me of when Tesla first released “Autopilot”. People were confused and saying “but all it does is keep you in your lane at the same speed”. Yes, that’s what autopilot is. When planes have autopilot, that doesn’t mean they don’t need a pilot.
This has long been a problem with NZ first, they act like they’re in opposition even when they’re in government.