New Rainbow Warrier To Visit New Zealand For First Time
Auckland, Friday 16 November 2012: Today Greenpeace announced that the state of the art new Rainbow Warrior will visit
New Zealand for the first time in January and February 2013.
“The Rainbow Warrior has been the heart and soul of Greenpeace global campaigning for over 30 years”, said Bunny
McDiarmid, Executive Director of Greenpeace New Zealand. “She’s been raided, rammed, shot at and bombed but the spirit
of the Rainbow Warrior is as strong as ever”.
“Many Kiwis donated to the building of the new Rainbow Warrior so it’s great to be able to show people what they made
possible.”
“The Rainbow Warrior connects with New Zealanders not only because of her namesakes past but also of what she represents
for our future. This ship is the embodiment of the direction we need to move in. Her design is innovative, intelligent
and stylish. She maximises efficiency and minimises pollution of our environment. The Rainbow Warrior will be continuing
to do the same thing but in a smarter, brand spanking cleaner way”, Bunny McDiarmid says.
She says it’s appropriate to announce the visit of the Rainbow Warrior on the same day that Elvis Teddy of Te Whanau a
Apanui is in the High Court to defend his protest action in 2011 against deep sea oil drilling in the Raukumara Basin.
The announcement also coincides with BP agreeing to initially pay out US$4.5 billion in reparations for the Gulf of
Mexico oil spill two years ago, while our Government is frantically giving out permits to foreign oil companies to come
here and drill in even deeper waters off the coasts of Otago, Bay of Plenty and Northland.
As the third Greenpeace ship to hold the Rainbow Warrior name, she will be docking at five locations for free public
tours of the ship in Auckland, Oban (Stewart Island), Bluff, Dunedin and Wellington. The itinerary will have some
surprises in store. Details will be posted when confirmed closer to the time at www.rainbow-warrior.org.nz
The Rainbow Warrior will also visit Te Whanau a Apanui at Whangaparaoa Bay and help kick off a national “Oil free seas”
hui and festival at Te Kaha in mid-January.
At 58 metres long the new Rainbow Warrior is Greenpeace’s first purpose built ship, funded entirely by donations from
Greenpeace supporters from across the world. Kiwi contributions funded the wet room, where activists board the
inflatables. A plaque onboard acknowledges this contribution.
After French Government agents bombed the first ship in Auckland harbour in 1985, the original ship was laid to rest off
Matauri Bay, Northland. Her replacement then picked up the baton and led global campaigns for over 21 years before going
to a Bangladesh charity called Friendship last year who now use the vessel as a hospital ship.
ends