ℕ𝕚𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕒 𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕤 𝕕𝕖𝕝𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕤 𝕒 𝕞𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕤 𝕚𝕟 𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕖𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖

ℕ𝕚𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕒 𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕤’ 𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕠𝕗 𝕣𝕖𝕡𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕀𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕗𝕖𝕣𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝕙𝕒𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕒 𝕞𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕤 𝕚𝕟 𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕖𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖.

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er recommendation to Cabinet to cancel the Inter-Island Resilient Connection (iReX) project soon after entering Government was based on the desire to find a cheaper way of replacing the ferries.

That decision has proven to be completely misguided and has already likely cost the country at least $300–$400 million in cancellation penalties.

Despite signalling a decision would be announced imminently after her Ministerial Advisory Group finished its work in July, the announcement kept getting pushed out further. Eventually Winston Peters announced the Government was definitely going to announce the decision in early December.

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After all that, this week, nearly a year after the cancellation, Willis has again kicked the can down the road.

Rather than showing some leadership and making a decision to provide some certainty for workers, business and the public, she is passing the buck on to a new company that will be set up to undertake a procurement process. We won’t know anything about the outcomes of that initial procurement process until March 2025.

Not even having a semblance of a plan after a year of work is a catastrophic failure of leadership and should put to rest any suggestions that Willis represents the future of the National Party.

She is lucky that Luxon can’t afford to get rid of someone so senior in his cabinet, because she is clearly not cut out for her position.

Using the excuse of commercial sensitivity, she won’t give the public any information on anticipated costs, or the funding envelope that she is setting aside for the replacement ferries. We are supposed to take her word for it that the costs will be less than the iReX project, even taking into account cancellation penalties.

She is also leaving the door open to some kind of public-private partnership, which would undoubtedly drive-up costs and lead to ongoing budget blowouts. We know from cost overruns associated with public-private partnerships like the Transmission Gully project that it is par for course when the private sector is relied upon to deliver large-scale infrastructure projects.

Perhaps most importantly, Willis refuses to commit that the ferries will be rail-enabled.

That will mean that the cost of shipping across the Cook Strait will increase significantly, the viability of South Island rail will be undermined, loading times will take much longer. This decision is also likely to increase the amount of carbon emitted.

Herein lies one of the biggest issues with this whole fiasco.

We desperately need a sustainable infrastructure strategy that is focused on the unique challenges that we face as we move towards a zero emissions economy.

But instead of recognising that reality, the Government is ignoring its climate commitments when it comes to infrastructure and economic investment.

It is pinning its hopes on extractive industries that contribute very little to our domestic economy. It makes no economic sense investing in sunset industries like oil, gas and mining where profits and jobs mostly head offshore.

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Rather than investing in infrastructure that supports public and active transport, and on protecting our existing transport routes from extreme weather events, National is doubling down on the only thing it knows how to do, building more motorways.

This week also saw the release of the Green Party’s alternative emissions reduction plan, which recommends investment in sustainable industry alongside a significant green infrastructure building programme, overseen through the establishment of a Ministry of Green Works.

It also proposes to establish a Future Workforce Agency with a focus on workforce planning and ensuring full employment through a “Green Jobs Guarantee”. Proactive planning for a just transition to a zero-emissions economy is critically important to ensure that no worker is left behind.

The Greens recognise that successful emissions reduction policies require economic transformation. In the words of Chlöe Swarbrick, “climate change is a fundamentally economic problem”.

The plan is a useful contribution to the public policy debate on climate change and sustainable infrastructure at a time when the Government is taking us backwards and can’t even guarantee a safe, reliable and cost-effective transport route between our two major islands.

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