New inquiry on Rena disaster to be announced

A new inquiry into the official response to the Rena disaster will be announced this week.

Neither Maritime New Zealand nor the Ministry of Transport could confirm the inquiry yesterday, but it's understood an announcement will be made on Friday to coincide with the first anniversary of the MV Rena's grounding in the Bay of Plenty.

Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby said he wanted such an inquiry to be a "positive learning experience rather than a negative blame exercise".

Mr Crosby believed the official response to the Rena's grounding had been good overall.

More than 8000 volunteers stepped forward when oil reached Bay of Plenty beaches, which were largely reopened after a month.

"But we should learn from it, because we could have done better."

Greens MP Gareth Hughes called for a Royal Commission of Inquiry just weeks after the grounding.

Yesterday, he said he wanted any official review to be independent and "as broad-based as possible".

"I think there were lots of issues raised by the Rena disaster, from the issue of flag of convenience ships, which the Rena was, through to Maritime New Zealand's role."

Mr Hughes also wanted an investigation into how taxpayers - who faced paying millions of dollars over Rena-related costs - could be better safeguarded.

He suggested joining larger international compensation funds, tougher penalties for polluters, and lifting minimum levels of compulsory insurance for existing oil rigs.

The findings of a separate inquiry by the Transport Accident Investigation Commission, an independent Crown body, are due by March.