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Tangi Utikere: Labour's Transport Spokesperson says new Interislander ferries will continue to cost more for taxpayers · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: As a story on everybody's lips. It is the fairy.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: The long awaited ferry announcement from the government came yesterday. However,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: there's still plenty of unanswered questions. There are going to
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: be two new fairies, but the government won't say how
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: much they will cost or whether the rare fairies will
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: be rail enabled. A new Crown Company will be established
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: to have the new fairies ready to begin service by
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty nine. And Tonguey Ticketing joining to me right now.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: He is a spokesperson for Transport and Labour's Chief Whip. Hello,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: this is a Christmas gift for you, isn't it, Tongey?
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Good morning Andrew. Well, I think this whole saga has
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: been ongoing and yesterday's announcement was extremely disappointing. It's rather underwhelming,
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: and this has been the sort of mainstay for Nicola
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Allis since she's been in the Captain's chair around this
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: particular issue of the firies.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: What is underwhelming about this deal, Well, the issue is.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: That nothing really was announced Easter. That was an announcement
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: of an announcement. What we've learned is that Keywis will
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: need to wait longer for the fairies when they do arrive.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: It was meant to be twenty twenty six under the
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: former government. Now we'll have to wait until at least
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty nine. There'll be smaller boats that are likely
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: to be rail enabled, which will have huge implications for
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  Speaker 2: the main trunk line between the North and South Island
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: and fundamentally they will also end up costing much much more.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: That is not a deal that kewis deserve.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Could you please explain the difference between rayant, rail enabled
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: and rail compatible and no rail at all. I mean,
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: what is the difference? Rail enabled is one roll on,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: roll off or not?
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: You know? Yeah, So rail enabled is what we currently
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: have within the Interryindo fleet for one of the three ferries,
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: and it means that basically freight can simply go on
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: a train straight onto the ship at one end and
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: then come straight off again at the other. Rail compatible
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: means that they have to basically offload the freight onto
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: another vehicle to get it onto the ferry and then
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: at the other end to do the same. So it
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: is a sense of double handling. Now that adds additional
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: cost to freight costs and who will carry that It'll
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: be the consumer that will carry it, but also the
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: additional time it's around about three an extra three hours
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: on a return journey to basically double handle, which will
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: mean that you know, the feries can't can't run as much.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you. National says their project will be
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: cheaper than yours or the one that you were overseeing,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: or the one that you were in charge of, or
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: my Keywi Rail was running the whole thing. Will they
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: have one if the project does come out cheaper.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Well, it won't come out cheaper. I mean, already there's
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: nearly half a billion dollars in sunk costs, the cancelation fee,
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: which will be upwards north of three hundred million. We
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: still don't know what that is, and they're still negotiating
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: that well into next year. The actual cost of the ferries.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: On top of that, the additional increase and maintenance of
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: the fleet that now has to continue to run through
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: to twenty twenty nine, and then of course the portside
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: development which they're pushing that cost on to rate payers
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: and others. So this actual envelope will continue to skyrocket,
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: and they didn't give us any indication as to what
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: that final figure would look like. Yesterday as part of
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: then announcement.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Ever, tank You t kevy I, thank you so much
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: for your time today, tank You Utikeli chief Whip and
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: also Labour's transport spokesperson. And somebody saying, well, is that
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: a bias commentator. Yes, he's from labor that's his point
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: of view. We found out what Labour's point of view is.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: We heard yesterday what National's point of view is, and
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: you're going to hear about everybody's point of view over
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: the course of the next day. That's called cabin seeing
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: all sides. That's called the media. That's called us story.
• 3:34
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• 3:37
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• 3:40
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