Swarbrick Chlöe; Tuiono TeanauCHLÖE SWARBRICK (Co-Leader—Green): E te Māngai tēnā koe. Tēnā koutou e te Whare. I think just there members of the New Zealand public have seen a shining example of why it is that we have an approximate $200 billion infrastructure deficit in this country. We constantly see the chopping and changing of legacy parties in charge binning projects that the other one did not like with no meaningful plan on the horizon.I just here want to refer to a document from 2020 and I want to quote from it if I can. It says—and I quote—This Government is committed to restoring rail to its rightful place in New Zealand. Bigger better ships with new technology are yet another step on that journey … These will be the first brand-new purpose built ferries New Zealand has had in over 25 years. Of the current ships only the Aratere is rail-enabled and an unwillingness from previous governments to invest properly in New Zealand's rail infrastructure has meant the Aratere has had a number of costly technical and mechanical issues. It is vital that we act now to ensure our Main Trunk Line between the North and South Islands is resilient and well-provisioned [into] the future". That is of course a quote from the Rt Hon Winston Peters who then was acting in his capacity as Deputy Prime Minister in a press release from 27 May 2020 titled "Government investment supports the acquisition of new Interislander ferries".Unfortunately how times have changed because what we've just heard there from one of the shareholding Ministers for KiwiRail one of our State-owned enterprises is that despite all of this bluster and approximately 10 minutes in a speech we have no meaningful plans whatsoever for what is to happen in 2026 and beyond. Look the Green Party can absolutely agree with the point from the Minister as actually was reflected in this press release from the former Deputy Prime Minister and the now new Deputy Prime Minister or co-Deputy Prime Minister that these are not new problems. We have known for a really long time that our ferry infrastructure the Interislander ferries need an upgrade. They need proper and meaningful investment. That is why the lead times exist on these kinds of investments. It is not a new problem and these investments could be requisitely made.This Government likes to talk a lot about how they are for some reason great financial managers. Let's dig into the detail on that specifically for this problem which so well is an emblem of a lot of these issues that we have with the infrastructural deficit in this country. You'd tend to say that when you are a good financial manager that you invest early in an issue to stop it escalating. Well as we already know based on the hearings that other speakers have alluded to we have already spent $424 million on this iReX project yet we are now also not all too transparent from this Government when it comes to the cost of the cancellation fees. Yet as I understand it on breakfast television this morning the Minister was not rebutting a figure in the arena of $300 million on the cancellation of that. We also of course have the cost of refloating the ferries every time they run into ground because as we've seen this is not a new problem and it is likely to continue out into the future.The Government also passed up the opportunity to futureproof the fleet. We had a guarantee of delivery in 2026 but now we are looking at an approximate at least 40 percent increase in inflation in the cost of purchasing those new ships. On top of that we've also passed up the opportunity to double capacity not only for passengers but also for freight. We also have passed up the opportunity to reduce carbon emissions of that fleet by 40 percent and to accommodate alternative fuel sources as they develop not to mention a 100-year lifespan for both of the ports and to get greater rail capacity something that New Zealand First used to be proud of and campaign for to get trucks off the road and ultimately not only to reduce those carbon emissions but to reduce congestion not least for rural Aotearoa New Zealand.The Minister just before was saying that he has expectations that the fleet keeps up with maintenance. I'm sure that's something that actually everybody in this House would fundamentally agree with—I didn't see any disagreement whatsoever on that basis—but the question for the Minister and for Government members is to show us the money to show us the plan and the contribution because right now we are left with far more questions than we have answers to as to what occurs in 2026.That bill is going to continue climb not only because based on the fact that I've just well canvassed that this is not a new problem we are likely to see more groundings of these ships; we are likely to see more issues eventuate; and we also are going to continue to see price inflation for the purchasing of these new ships. To that effect I think it also needs to be noted that as far as we're aware there are only about 20 of these ships in the world none of which are currently in action—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): Thank you. The member's time has expired."