'Not something the Government needs to do': Seymour questions Peters’ ferry plan

Act leader David Seymour has questioned whether the Government should be in the ferry business, just a day after Winston Peters confirmed the new Cook Strait fleet would not be privatised. 

Seymour has also questioned whether the new ferries’ names, Kupe and Cook, represent a “quiet nod to co-governance”. 

Rail Minister Winston Peters on Friday confirmed the two new rail-enabled ferries will be state-owned and be operated by KiwiRail, after earlier speculation about private sector involvement. 

Peters said there had been “a debate and discussion” among the coalition partners about the issue, but said “common sense” had ultimately prevailed. 

Part-privatisation was floated in a Cabinet paper, revealed by the Herald in July last year, suggesting that Ferry Holdings – the company created by the Government to procure the new ferries – “consider options for ferry ownership and operation”. 

Ministry of Transport officials had also earlier investigated whether KiwiRail was best placed to provide the Cook Strait ferry service. 

Under the new arrangement, the two ferries, set to arrive in 2029, will be owned by Crown entity Ferry Holdings, and leased to state-owned enterprise KiwiRail. 

The arrangement would be reviewed in 2039 in an effort to keep KiwiRail “on their toes”, Peters said. 

Minister for Rail Winston Peters yesterday revealed the new ferries would be called Kupe and Cook, and would be run by KiwiRail. Photo / Mark Mitchell 

Speaking to the Herald today, Seymour said while he could not divulge Cabinet discussions, the Act Party’s position was that operating Cook Strait ferries was “not something the Government needs to do”. 

“The private sector can and does operate ferries across Cook Strait, and I notice that since we’ve been having this debate, Bluebridge has actually brought a new ferry to New Zealand and put it in place while we’ve been talking about doing it,” the Act leader said. 

“Reasonable people can ask the question, is this something that the New Zealand Government must do?” 

Act Party leader David Seymour says operating Cook Strait ferries is “not something the government needs to do”. Photo / Dean Purcell 

Seymour said the Government’s $1.7 billion price tag for the project represented a burden on the taxpayer. 

“I take the basic economics view of ‘does the government have to do this and could the government do other more urgent things, like 1.7 billion dollars on hospitals’, for example,” he said. 

“At the end of the day, the victory here is cancelling the old contracts has saved substantial money for the taxpayer, however, we do worry about what the final cost of the new project will be.” 

He would not say whether Act planned to campaign on privatising the service through asset sales, but said his party would be releasing an alternative budget before the election. 

“We’re not going to release our policy now, but I think reasonable people should be asking how do we manage the government’s debt and what are the true priorities for borrowing and spending, is it roads and hospitals or is it commercial enterprises?” 

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has suggested National may campaign on asset sales ahead of this year’s General Election. 

Asked about the party’s position on potential private operation of the new ferries, a party spokesman said National has been focused on “lifting the performance of state-owned assets so they deliver for Kiwi taxpayers”. 

“National will announce its campaign policies in due course,” the spokesman said. 

Asked about the new names for the vessels, which Peters said he anticipated would spark backlash from “snivelling wokesters”, Seymour said they were “nice names that have a history in this country”, but said, “some people might ask is this a form of a quiet nod to co-governance”. 

Ethan Manera is a Wellington-based journalist covering Wellington issues, local politics and business in the capital. He can be emailed at ethan.manera@nzme.co.nz.