Transport Minister tight-lipped about whether KiwiRail could lose ferries

By RNZ

The Transport Minister has refused to confirm or deny whether an advisory group has suggested KiwiRail no longer runs Cook Strait ferries, but the Maritime Union says it looks that way.

The Interislander ferry Aratere ran aground near Picton last month, the latest in a series of incidents that have plagued the vessel in its 25 years of crossing Cook Strait.

On Thursday, TVNZ reported the group had recommended to Cabinet that KiwiRail no longer run the ferries.

Simeon Brown told Morning Report the Government received a report from the Independent Ferry Advisory Group a few weeks ago.

“We’re still considering what it says, ultimately those decisions have to go to Cabinet before any statements are made.”

He said there were a number of recommendations and observations in the report but he refused to go into detail about what they were.

The advisory group was set up after the coalition Government refused KiwiRail’s request for $1.47b in additional funding for iReX, the project to replace its ageing ferries and related port infrastructure.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis described it as a “major cost blowout” at the time.

But Maritime Union national secretary Carl Findlay told Morning Report it “definitely” seemed like the group had recommended KiwiRail be dropped from running the ferries.

He believed the Government needed to bring back the the iReX project.

“They need to bite the bullet, fall on their swords, say ‘Hey, we made a stuff up here, but how can we fix this?’

“We really need this key piece of infrastructure.”

More to come.

- RNZ