The newly appointed Minister for Rail Winston Peters has said very little about the Government's ferry plans, mostly sparring with Newstalk ZB host Heather du Plessis-Allan over her questions.
“We inherited, coming back into government in 2023, an unholy mess where the costs were blowing out to $3.2 billion," Peters told her.
“And then you had all the other uncertainties as well. That was not the project they were charged with doing when I was last Minister of Railways.
“So this was a circumstance which took some time to unravel. But here we are set to go now, and very shortly we’ll announce what the long-term future will be.
“But what we want is efficient, effective transport systems in this country. And the ferry operations in the Cook Strait are critical to that,” he said.
Peters said he was not trying to “better” any deal put up by Finance Minister Nicola Willis, as questioned by du Plessis-Allan.
“No, no … for the third time, no,” Peters said.
“Probably some claimed insiders have been telling you that, but it’s not true.
“The wider it gets reported, it just carries on. We’ve got to do better.”
Peters said rushing out the Government’s plans would “set the bottom price from where the shipbuilders will start increasing their profits - and we’re not going to start making those silly mistakes”.
“I just told you that three times and now I’m telling you a fourth time.
“You’ll have plenty of time under the Official Information Act in the future to find out whether what I'm saying is true. And when you do, can you please go on the programme and say, ‘I’m so sorry, I maligned Winston’.”
The Government has announced their plans to procure replacements to replace the aging Interislander fleet. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Peters said: “I admit it’s taken too long. But we’ve been in the job less than one day, give us some time and we’ll show you what we can do.
“What you’ve got to do [as a Government] is find out from all sources what is the best option at the best price for the greatest level of efficiency with the greatest longevity.”
Peters said the break fee was confidential “for a whole lot of reasons”.
“Do you know anything about commercial practice? That’s why it’s confidential. Which law school did you go to?
“This is embarrassing for the country, you’re quite right. The darned boats were only 20% of the costs.”
Peters sparred with du Plessis Allan several times.
“You’re telling me it’s embarrassing? Of course, it is. I’m here to fix it and I’m going to fix it,” he told her.
Peters said he had “no idea” about Act leader David Seymour’s comments about the ferries.
“Who said that was true?” Peters said in response to du Plessis Allan’s questions.
“You know, I’ve never seen so much rudeness. Somebody is trying to explain to you about a critical issue that costs so much to the taxpayer and you’re interrupting. Here’s the point: It’ll cost way, way less than [iRex], and that, I’m certain.”
He said the final decision would come “just as soon as we can responsibly make it”.
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