Ferry unions demand Finance Minister resign over Cook Strait debacle

Four uni­ons rep­res­ent­ing mari­time and rail work­ers have con­demned the Government’s decision to effect­ively can­cel the Cook Strait iRex ferry upgrade pro­ject, and are demand­ing the resig­na­tion of the Min­is­ter of Fin­ance for the decision.

The four uni­ons are the Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and rep­res­ent­ing sea­farers, the Rail and Mari­time Trans­port Uni­on rep­res­ent­ing rail work­ers, the New Zea­l­and Mer­chant Ser­vice Guild rep­res­ent­ing ship’s mas­ters and officers, and the Avi­ation and Mar­ine Engin­eers Asso­ci­ation rep­res­ent­ing mar­ine engin­eers.

Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and Nation­al Sec­ret­ary Craig Har­ris­on says it is not ten­able that such a major decision with massive implic­a­tions for the eco­nomy should be made in such a ‘fast and loose’ man­ner.

“This is far more than a fisc­al decision – this decision shows poor judge­ment and a total lack of under­stand­ing of the import­ance of a func­tion­ing Cook Strait con­nec­tion to New Zealand’s sup­ply chain.”

He says the ongo­ing tech­nic­al issues with Cook Strait fer­ries are a res­ult of end of life ves­sels being used on a notori­ously chal­len­ging cross­ing and had res­ul­ted in ser­i­ous incid­ents in the last few years. 

“The can has been kicked down the road for years and the upgrade has to hap­pen now.”

“This Gov­ern­ment cam­paigned on get­ting our trans­port infra­struc­ture sor­ted and their first move is to basic­ally jeop­ard­ize the future of road and rail trans­port between the North and South Island.”

Rail and Mari­time Trans­port Uni­on Gen­er­al Sec­ret­ary Todd Val­ster says the ferry upgrade pro­ject was an essen­tial part of main­tain­ing a ‘fit for pur­pose’ nation­al trans­port sys­tem ini­ti­ated by the pre­vi­ous Labour Gov­ern­ment.

He says the new Government’s decision to dump the pro­ject was reck­less and indic­ated an agenda to run down key parts of our trans­port infra­struc­ture.

“The iRex pro­ject would deliv­er fit for pur­pose, mod­ern ves­sels and ter­min­als, that would provide reli­ab­il­ity, resi­li­ence, low emis­sions and a safe ser­vice.”

Mr Val­ster says the iRex pro­ject would deliv­er a long term solu­tion for the Cook Strait over dec­ades, which jus­ti­fied the cost of the pro­ject.

He says the Min­is­ter of Fin­ance and the Gov­ern­ment had made an irre­spons­ible decision that would cost mil­lions to rec­ti­fy by break­ing con­tracts with over­seas sup­pli­ers, and leave the Cook Strait con­nec­tion with third rate, age­ing infra­struc­ture.