Antarctic discipline 'totally unreasonable’
PA Wellington Officials’ treatment of private expedition members at Scott Base was bad mannered, petty and against the spirit of the Antarctic treaty, an environmental group claims. The New Zealand convener of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, Ms Cath Wallace, said the severe disciplinary action taken against two employees who spoke about it was totally unreasonable.
Yesterday the “New Zealand Herald” reported that one employee at Scott Base would be sent home early and another dismissed after they publicised their concern about the way private expedition members have been treated. “The Antarctic Division is operating Scott Base as its private fiefdom,” Ms Wallace said.
"Ordinary New Zealanders will be saddened to find that our Government has allowed officials to adopt a policy of being rude and unfriendly to peaceable conservationists,” she said.
The 1959 Antarctic Treaty had guaranteed openness and co-operation in Antarctic matters, Ms Wallace said.
She said it was worrying that the Government apparently wanted to control information received from Antarctica. The head of the D.S.I.R.’s Antarctic Division, Mr Bob Thomson, confirmed that one man was on his way back to Christchurch for writing to a newspaper about the sinking of the Southern Quest in Antarctica. The other man, employed for only the summer season, was being dismissed for writing to newspapers claiming ill will had been shown to the Footsteps of Scott and Greenpeace expeditions.
Mr Thomson said the men, by approaching the news media, had breached a code of conduct they signed on undertaking work in Antarctica.
The employee dismissed on Tuesday, Mr lan Rice, an assistant maintenance officer, of Waiuku, said from Scott
Base that staff members were unhappy about the reception given to base visitors.
Three members of the Footsteps of Scott expedition were asked to leave the Scott Base bar after the sinking of their ship the Southern Quest, he said.
Greenpeace members were refused the services of the Scott Base post office, after they apparently gave insufficient notice of their visit. Mr Rice said Scott Base staff had been instructed in a telex that it was Government policy to offer no assistance to either expedition. The three Footsteps of Scott members had been invited to the Scott Base bar by some staff members to enjoy the New Zealand hospitality when they were asked by an officer in charge to leave, Mr Rice said. “The incident created a lot of unhappiness,” he said. “You would expect Scott Base to welcome people, not turn them out. We like to think we have an esprit de corps.”
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Press, 30 January 1986, Page 2
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427Antarctic discipline 'totally unreasonable’ Press, 30 January 1986, Page 2
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