So, It Turns Out No One Voted For “Ferry McFerryface” And Life Is A Lie

Last year the NSW government ran a competition to name one of Sydney’s shiny new ferries. The most popular name, we were told, was Boaty McBoatface, in honour of the UK ship with the same name. But to avoid doubling up, the NSW transport minister, Andrew Constance, picked the second most popular choice: Ferry McFerryface.

“Given Boaty was already taken by another vessel, we’ve gone with the next most popular name nominated by Sydneysiders,” Constance said.

The name was pretty widely mocked at the time, and state Opposition Leader Luke Foley vowed to scrap it if he’s elected. But hey, the people had spoken.

Only that’s not exactly what went down. A freedom of information request filed by 9 News found that Ferry McFerryface was not only ineligible to win the naming competition, but that it only received 182 votes in total. The FOI also found that the competition cost $100,000.

So essentially the state government spent $100,000 on a competition that they totally ignored.

It’s not clear why the transport minister was so infatuated with Ferry McFerryface, which is undeniably an extremely dumb name. It’s also worth noting that the name was chosen over Clean Up Australia founder Ian Kiernan, who was the actual winner for the ferry’s naming rights with 2025 eligible votes.

Is the moral of the story don’t waste taxpayers money on frivolous things or don’t lie to the public?

— Eliza Berlage (@verbaliza) January 30, 2018

It’s understood that the government is now looking to change Ferry McFerryface’s name.

Naturally, people are roasting the Ferry McFerryface scandal:

Imagine, amid all the train woes, Ferry McFerryface is the thing that brings down the transport minister.

— Josh Taylor (@joshgnosis) January 30, 2018

Fuck it would be great if Andrew Constance had to resign over something as stupid as forcing through a lame, unoriginal joke for a boat name

— Man Who Read Book (@mrmsutton) January 30, 2018

If he's willing to lie about something as stupid as Ferry McFerryface imagine what he's misrepresenting about the train drivers

— Joe McKenzie (@aJoeMcKenzie) January 30, 2018

If the trains don't get you, it seems Ferry McFerryface will #thingsyouneverexpecttohear

— Katie Hale (@katie18O) January 30, 2018

The whole thing is Stupid McStupidface.