Latest / Best of Business / Winston Peters: Rail Minister reiterates previous Cook Strait ferry deal wasn't a good one

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Winston Peters: Rail Minister reiterates previous Cook Strait ferry deal wasn't a good one · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talk zed B.
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  Speaker 2: Right now, though a few things to run past. Winston
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  Speaker 2: pieces with multiple hats on. New documents out today revealing
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  Speaker 2: the Coalition has set aside reportedly side three hundred million
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  Speaker 2: dollars to cover the broken infrastructure contract with Yondai for
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  Speaker 2: the fairies. Plus add to that, the US has halted
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  Speaker 2: military aid to Ukraine. This is because Trump is trying
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  Speaker 2: to put the squeeze on Zelenski. Winston Peters is the
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  Speaker 2: Minister of Rail also Foreign Affairs Minister. Good evening, Good evening,
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  Speaker 2: Great to have you on the program. Now, the three
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  Speaker 2: hundred million dollar so called break fee that has been
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  Speaker 2: spoken about today is a lot of money. Will we
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  Speaker 2: have to spend three hundred million dollars to break the
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  Speaker 2: old contract?
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  Speaker 3: We've already spent about forty six million in that context.
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  Speaker 3: But let me say to you that we began in
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  Speaker 3: May of twenty one hours ad Minister of the Rail
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  Speaker 3: seeking for four hundre good point one million two theories,
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  Speaker 3: and there was going to be some infrastructure costs, but
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  Speaker 3: it would look like way less than one billion. He
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  Speaker 3: came back in twenty twenty three out of the previous
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  Speaker 3: labor government's calculations and their deals to face over four
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  Speaker 3: billion dollars. That's the reality here. And so when we
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  Speaker 3: talk about this round them minium, it is not for
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  Speaker 3: the i Rex itself, it is including the Irex also
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  Speaker 3: infrastructure which has to be adheaded to.
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  Speaker 2: So Shonda won't get three hundred million dollars and a
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  Speaker 2: cancelation fee for the old furies. That's that's false.
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  Speaker 3: Now there's a cancelation theory equation. But having talked to them,
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  Speaker 3: we know that these two things are totally serpaced. The
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  Speaker 3: past decision to stop what was a two very option
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  Speaker 3: where of every dollar you spend on the theory you're
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  Speaker 3: spending three dollars somewhere else was a massive blow. No,
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  Speaker 3: I get that, and that's the real point here, and
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  Speaker 3: the opposition doesn't seem to get it. And you get it,
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  Speaker 3: but a lot of media don't get it. I'm just
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  Speaker 3: trying to emphasize it one more time.
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  Speaker 2: Understand that, But how much does it cost? How much
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  Speaker 2: could it cost to cancel for the cancelation fee because
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  Speaker 2: we have not onored our end of the bargain with
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  Speaker 2: the old contract, right, So what is the potential cost
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  Speaker 2: of that.
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  Speaker 3: Well, the potential cost of saying we cannot afford this
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  Speaker 3: blowout in cost for both the furry and the attempted
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  Speaker 3: infrastructure that went with the faeries that they ordered. That
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  Speaker 3: cost is way less than three hundred million.
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  Speaker 2: Ah. Okay, is that did you say forty six million
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  Speaker 2: dollars earlier? Is that more like it?
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  Speaker 3: The forty six million reward has spent on other matters
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  Speaker 3: associated with that three hundred million cost of decision which
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  Speaker 3: we saw to avoid going to a contract picked up
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  Speaker 3: from the layer of the government, not what they they
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  Speaker 3: were structure to do at the beginning, but where they
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  Speaker 3: went from four hundred point one million for peries to
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  Speaker 3: what in the end was two fiories and the total
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  Speaker 3: cost all up was a four billion plus according to Treasury.
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  Speaker 3: And every dollar you were spending on new ferries you
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  Speaker 3: have three dollars somewhere else. So you go from way
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  Speaker 3: less than one billion to four billions. That the economics
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  Speaker 3: of this country when we inherit from the labor government
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  Speaker 3: in portfolio after portfolio, and that's what the neasy the taxpayers,
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  Speaker 3: because it's their money, need to.
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  Speaker 2: Know minister, what do you make of Trump pulling the
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  Speaker 2: military funding for Ukraine? Jesus playing hardball, isn't he?
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  Speaker 3: Look it's too early to say, and I'm not making
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  Speaker 3: any comments because I go to see the dust settle
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  Speaker 3: and see what it all means.
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  Speaker 2: Do you think we're closer to a piece deal since
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  Speaker 2: Trump's come in or further away?
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  Speaker 3: Well, my answer to that is we are close to
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  Speaker 3: a peace deal. The question is what will be shaken form?
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  Speaker 2: Do you think we can get a lasting one?
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  Speaker 3: Well, you know, we live in a very difficult world,
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  Speaker 3: probably the most difficult since anybody, nor most people, not anybody,
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  Speaker 3: but anybody that was born after the Second World War
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  Speaker 3: has never seen a time quite like this on.
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  Speaker 2: Have you spoken to your Ukrainian counterpart?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, I spoken doing Ukrainian counterpart. I've spoken to my
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  Speaker 3: counterpart in Poland and surrounding countries, Germany, France and the UK.
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  Speaker 3: I'll be speaking to the USA counterpart very shortly. I've
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  Speaker 3: spoken to my counterpart in China getting into national semiful things,
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  Speaker 3: and of course I spoken to my counterpart and then
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  Speaker 3: Ambasta also in Finland.
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  Speaker 2: What are you going to say to Marco Rubio?
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  Speaker 3: Now you're far too smart, mister Bridge, for me to
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  Speaker 3: la You're asking me to before I even talk to
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  Speaker 3: this really important person. I tell your listeners, no, they
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  Speaker 3: don't understand that. That's all lack of diplomacy. It's impolite
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  Speaker 3: and it's root in the extreme, and we do not
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  Speaker 3: want to be acting like that.
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  Speaker 2: Fair Enough, I had to ask. I thought you might be.
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  Speaker 3: You know, you know what, you know what the secret
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  Speaker 3: of diplomacy is, don't you?
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  Speaker 2: Well, certainly not what Trump's doing in the White House
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  Speaker 2: right now.
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  Speaker 4: I wouldn't have thought I was going to say something
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  Speaker 4: you the secret of diplomacy is telling someone to go
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  Speaker 4: to hellp in such a way that they ask for directions.
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  Speaker 2: Fine, the Foreign Minister Inston Peters, thank you very much
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  Speaker 2: for your time. I appreciated the savings.
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