FORMER New Zealand Defence Minister Ron Marks, who launched the Pacific Defence Gender Network in 2019, has defended a New Zealand First election advertisement suggesting woke policy-was to blame for the sinking of the $100 million HMNZS Manawanui off the coast of Samoa in 2024.
Marks, who left Parliament in 2020 but is running again for NZ First in the seat of Wairarapa, says Commander Yvonne Gray was not platform-endorsed for HMNZS Manawanui at the time of its sinking just a mile off Samoa on October 5th, 2024.
NZ First has launched a “war on woke”as part of its election campaign, which is attempting to win government outright, without having to rely on coalition deals with either Labor or the Nationals.
Marks was Defence Minister under the Labor-NZ First coalition government led by International Socialist Jacinda Ardern. NZ First joined with Labor after a deep rift developed between it and the National Party.
As part of his coalition deal with Labor, he was obligated to carry out woke policy as part of his ministerial duties and announced the launch of the Pacific Defence Gender Network, which aimed to promote “the meaningful participation of women in Pacific defence forces through annual seminars and collaboration”.
Marks has now appeared in an advertisement saying “the woke (beep) of diversity, equity and inclusiveness has gone too far. The sinking of a $100 million ship is evidence of that, and soldiers with man buns? They don’t scare anybody. We need to restore the proud warrior ethos of the New Zealand military.”
Mark asserts that NZ First’s policy is strictly focused on meritocracy and as such, personnel advancement and operational decisions should be based purely on skill, experience, and capability rather than so-called “diversity metrics”.
Appearing on 1News beside one of his feminist ministers, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon tried to brush off questions from media about the advert, suggesting Mark was cosplaying US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, although some commentators suggested Luxon was cosplaying Jacinda Ardern.
A Court of Inquiry into the sinking found that key personnel on the bridge (including those involved in the incident) had deficiencies in ship qualifications and platform endorsements.
The findings specifically noted that the Commanding Officer was not platform-endorsed for the vessel — a requirement set out in the New Zealand Manual of Navigation.
The inquiry found the bridge crew left the ship’s autopilot engaged while trying to manually change the ship’s course. HMNZS Manawanui was conducting a routine hydrographic reef survey.
When the ship failed to turn, the crew mistakenly assumed there was a “thruster control failure” and failed to check whether the autopilot was still active, causing the ship to sail straight onto the reef at over 10 knots.
After hitting the reef, the ship suffered extensive hull damage and began listing as water flooded into the engine room, and recognizing that the vessel could not be salvaged, Commander Gray gave the order to abandon ship.
All 75 personnel and passengers on board were successfully evacuated into life rafts and inflatable sea boats. Despite dark conditions, heavy swells, and one life raft flipping on the reef, local Samoan rescuers and the New Zealand Defence Force ensured every person survived.
By early the next morning, an electrical ignition sparked a massive fire in the flooded engine room. Flames engulfed the vessel before it completely capsized and sank into 33 metres of water at around 9:00 AM on Sunday, October 6th.
Mark later told Radio NZ that his comments were not an attack on women in the Defence Force, that Commander Gray had a “strong defence,” and that the focus should be on “the men who made certain decisions”.
The inquiry did not specifically target DEI policy, but the decisions to put under-qualified women in charge of the ship was apparently made with DEI and the Gender Network policy in mind.
The extent of woke policy under Ardern at the time was revealed in the fact that the Gender Network was launched during a “Women, Peace and Security Summit” co-hosted by New Zealand’s Ministry of Defence and Samoa’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Initial members included the defence forces of Fiji, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Australia, and New Zealand. It was intended to complement the existing police-led Pacific Women’s Advisory Network established in 2004.
