English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:648;Page:17103] 
3.  
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Leader—National) 
 to the  
Minister of Finance 
: What were the findings of the Auditor-General’s performance audit of ONTRACK? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Associate Minister of Finance) 
 on behalf of the  
Minister of Finance 
: The report shows very plainly that ONTRACK still has more work to do to help manage the national rail network out of the mess it was in before the Government rescue 4 years ago. ONTRACK is taking the report seriously as will the new KiwiRail board led by Jim Bolger who will guide the reorganisation of the now fully public system. 
Hon Bill English 
: Can the Minister confirm that the Auditor-General’s report concludes that after almost 4 years and the expenditure of $200 million of taxpayers’ money ONTRACK still cannot form a clear picture of the state of the rail network that its staff are confused about its accountabilities that it is running three different business units that cannot coordinate around the same railway track and that the Auditor-General therefore cannot determine whether the management of the track has been effective? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Further to that ONTRACK’s most pressing concern when taking over the tracks was to urgently address track safety issues. The failure of Tranz Rail to maintain the system left tracks unsafe throughout New Zealand. Fixing collapsing bridges had to be the No. 1 priority and that was all as a result of Tranz Rail’s only focus seeming to be on stripping the asset down closing lines and selling it off and not keeping it safe and planning for its development. The House knows that ONTRACK has never received the funding it needed from Toll due to Toll’s failure to agree to pay its required contribution under the National Rail Access Agreement and those years of battling with Toll have been an unwelcome distraction to ONTRACK. Now with the rail system fully in public ownership there will be significant efficiency gains. Jim Bolger and the Rail Development Group will study the Auditor-General’s report with interest. It is a very timely report. The one point I will make at the end is it is likely that with the rolling stock we will find similar problems as the Auditor-General has found in this area. 
Russell Fairbrother 
: What does the Auditor-General’s report show about New Zealand’s experience with the privatisation of New Zealand’s rail network? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: One of the main problems ONTRACK faced after the rescue of the rail network was that Tranz Rail had virtually zero formal asset planning. That was probably because of the approach promoted by John Key as an adviser and a shareholder. That approach was to strip it down and sell it off. 
Hon Bill English 
: Can the Minister confirm that his version is not actually what the Auditor-General says which is that when ONTRACK assessed the state of the network “the information was sometimes incomplete or used different or unclear assessment criteria. It was not always apparent what conclusions could be drawn from the information.” and that the assessment by ONTRACK “did not include a clear description of the rail network’s assets.”—which means that ONTRACK has no idea where it started no idea where it has got to and no idea what it has done in between? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I think that the bit up to “which means” is essentially accurate. But the reason for that is that ONTRACK quite properly took on board safety issues. It fixed the bridges that were going to fall down and the rails where trains were likely to be derailed at large risk to the safety of both drivers and passengers on some trains. Frankly heading towards that sort of priority is defensible. The fact that it did not get on with proper future planning is mainly a result of being far too focused on its battles with Toll around access fees. 
Hon Bill English 
: Can the Minister tell members why we should not be surprised that the Auditor-General’s inquiry into an organisation that regards itself as a Government department—which the Government pours hundreds of millions of dollars into hoping that something will happen—has found that the organisation’s maintenance and renewal work is short term and reactive that it has not identified the resources it needs or the constraints it faces and that one of the reasons the maintenance of tracks is delayed is that the hours that its crew chooses to work happen to be the hours when the train tracks are busiest so it is hard to get much done? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: What is absolutely clear to everyone is that the privatised Tranz Rail system failed to deliver proper planning. We are through that now and I look forward to the National Party eventually folding on this one and saying that it will keep it too. 
Hon Bill English 
: Why does the Minister claim that Labour is through the stage when there was no proper planning when the Auditor-General’s report of about 60 pages goes into great detail about how there is no proper planning after the expenditure of $200 million on ONTRACK which has turned out to be a very poor performer? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Spending $200 million stopping bridges falling over and straightening rail is not a waste of money. The member should read the report carefully and see that much of what it is in it is in fact dated.