New leadership for Greenpeace

When Bunny McDiarmid became a deckhand on the Rainbow Warrior, she had never heard of Greenpeace New Zealand.

Today, she resigns as its executive director.

In a letter to supporters, McDiarmid said the the job she had held for the past decade was ‘‘challenging, fun, humbling, often exhausting and always interesting – but now it’s time for someone else to do it.’’

The 58-year-old Christchurch-born activist said she would continue to work for the organisation, with plans to ‘‘go back to some sailing with my family in the Pacific and beyond’’.

She said the organisation was in great shape, ‘‘which has made this decision a little less tough’’.

McDiarmid’s resignation comes on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland. McDiarmid was the only kiwi crew member with the Greenpeace ship that was targeted by the French government as it prepared to sail to the Pacific to protest nuclear testing. McDiarmid and her longtime partner and fellow crew member Henk Haazen, were onshore at her parents, when they received news that two explosions had sunk the boat and killed friend and photographer Fernando Pereira.

‘‘One of those events that brought New Zealand and Greenpeace together was the bombing of the Warrior,’’ McDiarmid said. ‘‘It was amazing the way people looked after us. New Zealand’s innocence was as much blown away as ours was.’’

McDiarmid said the world had become ‘‘a lot smaller’’ during her 10-year tenure in Greenpeace’s top New Zealand job.

Among the highlights of the past 10 years, she said, were the ‘‘Sign On’’ campaign that brought business leaders, scientists and entertainers alongside activists to raise awareness of climate change issues, and the recent news that Greenpeace’s global tuna campaign would be led from New Zealand.

‘‘We are absolutely up for having a crack at the big jobs, even though we’re little.’’