Will Hipkins take responsibility for the ferries?
Liam Hehir points out:
You might think the decision to cancel the so-called mega ferries for New Zealand’s Cook Strait was a mistake. Reasonable people can disagree on whether the new government’s pivot to smaller, more affordable vessels was the right call. But one thing should be clear: the situation was the Hospital pass from Hell
You probably won’t pick that up reading Newsroom or Stuff. The simplistic media narrative here is that this has been a completely self-inflicted wound for National.
But if the current situation is the disaster the journos are making out, it’s hard to see why they are also giving a free pass to Chris Hipkins. If this is a catastrophe (and that’s a big if), then he deserves much of the criticism – and it’s hard to see how both Labour and the press gallery expect to have it both ways here.
What Hehir is referring to is this:
As KiwiRail noted to incoming finance minister Nicola Willis, the 2023 PREFU made no meaningful allowance for the additional funding required to save Project iReX. This was despite repeated warnings from KiwiRail throughout 2023 that at least $950 million in additional funding was necessary to proceed.
Hehir points out there are are two explanations for this:
- Scenario 1: Labour Wasn’t Serious About Funding the Ferries
- Scenario 2: Labour Deliberately Hid the Problem
The conclusion:
If the mega ferries were so crucial we had to say yes to the extra cost then the omission of funding from the PREFU is not a minor oversight. It is a glaring example of political evasion that demands accountability.
If we accept the argument of Chris Hipkins that the mega ferries were so critical to New Zealand’s infrastructure then we must also agree that he is condemning bimself. He was prime minister at the various key points and so he bears responsibility for that failure as much as anyone else does. The only thing more galling than his current outrage is the fact that he isn’t being asked any questions about it.
The hypocrisy is great.