An Australian Politician Held A Boat-Naming Competition, Then Ignored The Results To Call It 'Ferry McFerryface'
An Australian transport minister is under fire for commissioning a $100,000AUD public ferry-naming campaign and then unilaterally deciding to name the ferry Ferry McFerryface, even though more people voted to name the boat after an environmental activist. The incident marks the last time any right-thinking person will ever try to replicate the magic that was Boaty McBoatface, the winner of a 2016 British ship-naming contest. Here's what's going on.
First, A Brief Refresher On 'Boaty McBoatface'
Back in the innocent days of March 2016, Britain's Natural Environment Research Council introduced a public contest to name a new ship.
That plan backfired in spectacular fashion, with voters overwhelmingly supporting a name that failed to capture the grandeur that officials were probably looking for: Boaty McBoatface.
To the dismay of many, the Science Ministry ignored the results of the poll and announced that the ship would be named after the naturalist David Attenborough.
In an attempt to soothe hurt feelings, British officials acknowledged the Boaty McBoatface phenomenon by bestowing the name on a remotely operated submarine that would accompany the David Attenborough in collecting data and samples.
Boaty McBoatface launched a trend that included Trainy McTrainface (a high-speed train in Sweden) and Horsey McHorseface (a racehorse in Sydney).
Sydney's Ferry-Naming Contest Was Designed To Produce Respectable Candidates…
A few months after the Boaty McBoatface story sailed onto the international stage, Andrew Constance, the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure for the Australian state of New South Wales, announced a naming contest for a fleet of six new ferries to service Sydney Harbour. At the time, the contest rules limited entries to three categories — "Arts and Culture," "Connections to Sydney Harbour" or "Science, Environment and Innovation" — and Constance promised a four-person panel would narrow the public's nominations down to a shortlist of finalists, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
… Yet Somehow, 'Ferry McFerryface' Won, Sparking Controversy
But come November 2017, Constance announced that the final boat in the fleet would be named Ferry McFerryface due to what he said was overwhelming public support.
Ferry McFerryface was actually the second most popular choice, however, with the most votes going to Boaty McBoatface, the name of a British research vessel.
"Given Boaty was already taken by another vessel, we've gone with the next most popular name nominated by Sydneysiders," said Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance, the ABC reported.
In a tweet at the time, Constance implied that his hands were tied by the will of the masses.
The name proved surprisingly controversial, however, with the union representing Sydney maritime workers boycotting the boat due to its "disrespectful" name and an opposition politician promising to scrap the name if elected. It also soon came out that an environmental activist, Ian Kiernan, was informed several weeks before the announcement that the ferry would bear his name — only for the offer to be withdrawn at the last minute.
A Freedom Of Information Request Revealed That Ferry McFerryface Wasn't As Popular As Constance Implied
Now, Nine News Australia reports that Ferry McFerryface didn't actually receive the most votes from the public.
A 9NEWS freedom of information investigation has revealed the competition to name a new fleet of ferries costs a whopping $100,000.
Documents reveal Ferry McFerryface was not only ineligible to be accepted under the government's own criteria but it attracted just 182 votes.
Clean Up Australia founder Ian Kiernan was the clear winner for the ferry's naming rights with 2025 eligible votes.
Constance Said He Was Just Having 'A Bit Of Fun'
Upon being busted for foisting the name upon the public, Constance insisted he had named the boat Ferry McFerryface "for the kids with selfies" and seemed to refer to himself using the royal we.
"We got global attention and a bit of fun for the kids with selfies and grandparents," Mr Constance said.
"We followed the panel recommendations for the first 5, but for the last one we thought let's do something a bit different."
He then denied circumventing the public's wishes in a longer statement, claiming that Ferry McFerryface won the first round of voting even though it was excluded from the panel's shortlist of candidates.
However, Constance has promised to rename Ferry McFerryface after May Gibbs, a children's book author — doubly snubbing poor Ian Kiernan.
In Conclusion, [Word]y Mc[Word]yface Is Now Definitively Ruined
This is one of the dumbest controversies we've ever heard of, and that's really saying something. Let Constance's actions serve as a warning that there's no better way to ruin a fun meme than for a politician to attempt to capitalize on it at any cost. This tweet sums it up pretty well.