Webb DuncanHon Dr DUNCAN WEBB (Labour—Christchurch Central): Kia ora Mr Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for taking a call. I think it's really that as the Minister for State Owned Enterprises he does front up. It's important to recognise that the Minister of Transport and the Minister for State Owned Enterprises are responsible. This is happening on their watch.I do want to say though that there's been some pretty feisty debate here but this is too important to be politicking about. That was a really significant event when that vessel ran aground. It ran aground for reasons that we don't yet know but if it happened elsewhere it would have been catastrophic. If it had happened with a passenger ferry in Tory Channel or at Barrett Reef there could conceivably have been massive loss of life. That's the risk we're facing. That is why this Parliament and that Government needs to get it right.When we see what they've done there's a word that's been bandied about in respect of the iReX ferries: they've repudiated" them. Now it's an interesting word to use—you don't see it very often. Here's what it means: we're refusing them; we're unilaterally declining to take them. Now what I read into that is that the Government is now in a dispute resolution process trying to find out how much they have to pay in damages for illegally breaking their contract. Now that's going to be very expensive.There is a real risk here about our commercial reputation. New Zealand as a sovereign nation has a very good reputation for not breaking our promises. We've just broken a $550 million promise with a major commercial player in the marine and wider heavy industry sector. The Hyundai dockyards is not going to rush to build us our new vessels.Now look I do want to be clear: I was the former Minister for State Owned Enterprises; iReX was very very difficult. It's accurate to say that the costs blew out—they did. But I'm convinced that pulling the rug on that contract is not the best thing for New Zealand because that stretch of water that most difficult stretch of water is a lifeline connection to the South Island. I can tell you that South Islanders are feeling left out left behind and ignored by a Government that says "It's all too hard. We'll kick that can down the road. We'll take some advice."There was a solution there. It was a lasting long-term solution. I accept it was a solution that needed costs control. The documents that are now in the public domain will show that I as Minister for State Owned Enterprises the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Transport were continually putting disciplines around KiwiRail both in cost savings and to make sure that they were using their own balance sheet to fund what was possible. But what we heard was a proposal which brought our ferry system into the 21st century that was rail-enabled so that we can utilise our rail network to its best capacity that had vessels that were low carbon highly efficient and extremely seaworthy and port-side infrastructure that wasn't aging and falling apart but earthquake resilient. That's where a lot of the money was going: in Wellington port that would stand up to a major event.What we've got now is a Government that has thrown its hands up—and I've seen the figures. I've got a pretty good take on the fact that these new ferries—smaller ferries three of them—are going to be $300 million each. So that's the best part of a billion dollars already. Getting out of the contract's another 200 million. And the ports still need upgrading and will be we left with an outdated roll-on roll-off system that is not a strong safe and resilient connection.So I do say to this Government let's work hard on this. Let's not just dismiss it because it was expensive and the last Government's idea. Let's look carefully at the real options and let's not under invest in our infrastructure. Let's make sure we have a genuinely strong connection between our islands which is genuinely safe because the risks of not doing it are too great."