Prime Minster Christopher Luxon attends a ceremony in Apia to bestow a matai title.
Photo: RNZ / Giles Dexter
There’s uncertainty about whether New Zealand has finished paying compensation to Samoa for the Manawanui disaster, following a series of press conference by prime ministers of both countries today.
The New Zealand Navy ship sank in late 2024 off the south coast of Upolu after hitting a reef, spilling hundreds of thousands of litres of diesel and oil into the ocean. Affected communities have complained about both the amount and the distribution of compensation.
Last year New Zealand announced a payment of NZ$ 6-million to Samoa which was described as final.
But when asked about the matter at a joint press conference in Apia today with New Zealand’s Christopher Luxon, his Samoan counterpart La’aulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Schmidt said they were still in the middle of finalising the first portion of the payment and that consultations were ongoing.
“We appreciate New Zealand (sic) decision to have the first portion of compensation coming along, and we are in the middle of discussions with the people in the village area,” La’aulialemalietoa said.
“We need to have time, better time with New Zealand to consider what is good for us here, and protective, and also preserve of what’s going to be effective in the future, that’s where the discussions should be. Be fair to New Zealand and also be fair to us, in the long run.”
UAS footage of RNZN Divers surveying the area around HMNZS Manawanui on the Southern Coast of Upulo as part of Op Resolution. 25 October 2024
Photo: New Zealand Defence Force
But at a later media stand-up in the Samoan capital, Luxon said the compensation had been paid in full.
“We negotiated in good faith with the Samoan government and paid full and final settlement, which was the 6 million New Zealand dollars. What the Prime Minister was alluding to was actually the dispersal of that $6 million out to the community,” he said.
However, Luxon said there was a second issue, regarding an independent shipwreck assessment commissioned by New Zealand, which he said they’d given to the Samoan government, who were now digesting it.
“They will take their time and with our officials work that through. And if there’s more for us to do together, as I said right from the beginning, we’ll always do the right thing.
“And so those are questions that they will need to digest, that independent report, and then we’ll pick those conversations further up,” Luxon said.
Samoa’s Prime Minister Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Schmidt
Photo: Facebook / Government of Samoa