PM Chris Hipkins

[pete376403]

Disappointing to hear her blaming the previous government for not scoping the ferry upgrades adequately this morning, as if they would have had anything but the advice given to them by officials to go on.

Today, Labour finance spokesman Grant Robertson said Willis was wrong and it was KiwiRail that owned and managed the project.
As a state-owned enterprise, KiwiRail had an independent board that had made decisions about the project, he said.
“The previous Government acknowledged the commercial sensitivity around this project and has not sought to speak publicly about these matters.

“Ms Willis knows all of this and has instead chosen to play cheap politics with this important national infrastructure project.”

Willis using her degree in english literature to craft some bullshit, long on rhetoric and short on facts

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/grant-...JQAGGJOYSFUWQ/

[R650R]

Today, Labour finance spokesman Grant Robertson said Willis was wrong and it was KiwiRail that owned and managed the project.
As a state-owned enterprise, KiwiRail had an independent board that had made decisions about the project, he said.
“The previous Government acknowledged the commercial sensitivity around this project and has not sought to speak publicly about these matters.

“Ms Willis knows all of this and has instead chosen to play cheap politics with this important national infrastructure project.”

Willis using her degree in english literature to craft some bullshit, long on rhetoric and short on facts

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/grant-...JQAGGJOYSFUWQ/

About as independent as a Soviet fishing trawler working near a submarine base…

[R650R]

Full credit to Hipkins for finally fronting on Platform for an interview.
Ardern and Robertson were always scared of being asked the hard questions. Got to respect him for being in an arena where the host not “ on the payroll”.
Pretty boring interview so haven’t bothered to link.

Tough time ahead a lot of experience is fleeing the sinking ship.

[pete376403]

Follow up to Willis cancelling the ferry terminal etc - The new contract to build the new ferries is being cancelled with the Korean shipyard. But now they cant purchase replacements and there is a shortage of suitable secondhand boats. Re contracting with the yards for new boats will cost about 40% more, so Interislander will have to keep on plugging away with the near end-of-life boats for a while yet. Will not be a good look to Willis and NactFirst if there is another incident where a boat breaks sown, especially if it iresults in loss of life. Oh well, the rich beneficiaries of the tax cuts don't travel between their Auckland penthouses and their Queenstown weekenders by ferry anyway

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/tide-s...PPFS4KEMKHYM4/

[neels]

Follow up to Willis cancelling the ferry terminal etc - The new contract to build the new ferries is being cancelled with the Korean shipyard. But now they cant purchase replacements and there is a shortage of suitable secondhand boats. Re contracting with the yards for new boats will cost about 40% more, so Interislander will have to keep on plugging away with the near end-of-life boats for a while yet. Will not be a good look to Willis and NactFirst if there is another incident where a boat breaks sown, especially if it iresults in loss of life. Oh well, the rich beneficiaries of the tax cuts don't travel between their Auckland penthouses and their Queenstown weekenders by ferry anyway

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/tide-s...PPFS4KEMKHYM4/

I can kind of understand the thinking behind wanting to get out of a deal someone else agreed to that's going to cost the taxpayer over $1b for new infrastructure, although it is the primary freight link between the islands and small potatoes compared to the latest Auckland motorway proposals, not to mention consideration of whether the new plan will end up costing more than the old one before you pull the trigger.

While it's all good to get excited about doing stuff to show how badly the previous government had arranged things, you also have to be careful you don't saw off the branch you're sitting on....

[nerrrd]

I can kind of understand the thinking behind wanting to get out of a deal someone else agreed to that's going to cost the taxpayer over $1b for new infrastructure, although it is the primary freight link between the islands and small potatoes compared to the latest Auckland motorway proposals, not to mention consideration of whether the new plan will end up costing more than the old one before you pull the trigger.

While it's all good to get excited about doing stuff to show how badly the previous government had arranged things, you also have to be careful you don't saw off the branch you're sitting on....

I’m really starting to wonder if the long term National MPs and party members never actually explained the realities of governing to Luxon or Willis.

The fact that everything is breaking now after decades of underfunding by both National and Labour should be a clue. The current problems must be systemic, and won’t be solved by cancelling everything and turning the clock back to 2017. They were already f*cked back then.

Will they actually bring any fundamental changes to the table? I doubt it, so they’re just picking a different set of winners.

Take a look at any local coverage from any ‘western’ country, the complaints are all the same.

[pete376403]

I’m really starting to wonder if the long term National MPs and party members never actually explained the realities of governing to Luxon or Willis..

While the "long term nats / party members" are all (theoretically) part of the same team, it is quite possible that they are ok with watching the leadership fail if it enhances their own position come leadership selection time.

[R650R]

Your all forgetting private enterprise has been providing an excellent ferry service via bluebridge which was originally started just for the benefit of several trucking companies and has successfully grown.
Yes bluebridge has had its moments too of service failures but that’s the nature of the beast. It’s a piece of complicated heavy infrastructure where random failures and maintenance schedules will cause compounding delays at times. And few would be prepared to pay the ticket price that would fund a “spare” boat ready to go. You can’t just start these big engines up with no warning even if you were to press a spare boat into service.
In the old days it made sense for the govt to be involved but now we should just let private enterprise fill the gap.
Just look at the explosion of international cruise ships visiting us. Where there is a market free enterprise delivers the goods.
If anything the govt should be funding logistics ships for the navy given how vulnerable our nation is in a natural disaster. They could be doing a budget ferry service to provide jobs and training to new recruits and centrally positioned to respond to disaster assistance swiftly.

[nerrrd]

Your all forgetting private enterprise has been providing an excellent ferry service via bluebridge which was originally started just for the benefit of several trucking companies and has successfully grown.
Yes bluebridge has had its moments too of service failures but that’s the nature of the beast. It’s a piece of complicated heavy infrastructure where random failures and maintenance schedules will cause compounding delays at times. And few would be prepared to pay the ticket price that would fund a “spare” boat ready to go. You can’t just start these big engines up with no warning even if you were to press a spare boat into service.
In the old days it made sense for the govt to be involved but now we should just let private enterprise fill the gap.
Just look at the explosion of international cruise ships visiting us. Where there is a market free enterprise delivers the goods.
If anything the govt should be funding logistics ships for the navy given how vulnerable our nation is in a natural disaster. They could be doing a budget ferry service to provide jobs and training to new recruits and centrally positioned to respond to disaster assistance swiftly.

I'm pretty sure Kiwirail was a private enterprise not so long ago...it didn't turn out well.

And the Navy can't man the ships they already have.

Ideology won't solve these problems, pragmatism and expertise might – neither are exclusive to the public or private sectors.

[R650R]

I'm pretty sure Kiwirail was a private enterprise not so long ago...it didn't turn out well.

And the Navy can't man the ships they already have.

Ideology won't solve these problems, pragmatism and expertise might – neither are exclusive to the public or private sectors.

I’m talking about the boats, rail is another whole story with problems of its own more related to the small distances involved in our country and a few big mountains in the way.
We were lucky that what infrastructure we have was built when labour was cheap.