Williams ArenaARENA WILLIAMS (Labour—Manurewa): This knee-jerk political point-scoring shoot from the hip" Government has the chutzpah to come down to this House and give the Labour members a lecture on working together. This Government who got out in front of the cameras at their first opportunity and said "Look at us—we're so cool. We're going to get these chief executives who have been running up the costs by cancelling the contract." They're cancelling a contract which that member Andy Foster just told this House was a good deal: $551 million for ferries which will enable a resilient crossing of the Cook Strait—a resilient crossing of the Cook Strait that that Minister of Transport who spoke earlier in this debate came to the Transport and Infrastructure Committee on Thursday and promised that committee in his answers. Further the Prime Minister stood in front of cameras on Monday and promised New Zealanders a resilient crossing of the Cook Strait because it is nationally significant infrastructure not only to the South Island but to all New Zealanders who rely on that for the economic benefits it gives to everyone.This is such an important piece of infrastructure investment in the hands of a Government that does not believe it is responsible for it—a Government that will stand here and kick the KiwiRail board. Those members will say they are reckless will say that they are exceedingly arrogant and will do everything they it can to undermine the public's trust in a State-owned enterprise and to push responsibility as far as they can away from this Cabinet which is making decisions to undermine that resilient crossing that they are promising New Zealanders out one side of their mouth and undermining in the Cabinet room.We know and we have confirmed today—not only the Minister for State Owned Enterprises but the Minister of Transport have told this House that they have had the advice back from their ministerial advisory group that they have had a discussion about it around the Cabinet table and that they know what the recommendations of that ministerial advisory group are. They actually have a solution in their heads. They are sitting through this debate refusing to tell New Zealanders how we will have a resilient Cook Strait connection and are instead blaming the KiwiRail board saying that they need to prioritise safety. Well the KiwiRail board have been asking for an upgrade of their infrastructure which is causing a lack of safety to the people who they provide this business for and they have a Cabinet here who haven't backed them. They have a Cabinet here who are pushing responsibility away for those infrastructure investments and have no plan B. When Andy Foster comes to this House and he says "Well Tangi Utikere wants plan A." we just want anything. At this point we would be grateful for a boat that could cross the Cook Strait and a Minister who was happy to be in charge of that. But instead they are here today and they are pushing responsibility as far away from themselves as they possibly can. We still don't know if the contract has been formally cancelled for those $551 million boats but if KiwiRail is already out in the market trying to procure other boats. We don't know if New Zealanders are not only on the hook for that $551 million contract or however many hundreds of millions it will cost to break it and another hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of some other project because Cabinet have decided to keep that information from New Zealanders and will not share it in this debate. They will not give us any clarity about the important decisions going forward which are in front of them.So the questions as I see them are these. Has the contract for the new Interislander ferries been terminated and if so what is that penalty? We don't have that information—that hasn't been offered by the Government. We also don't know if those Ministers have had those discussions and what options they are considering next. We have certainly heard from the ACT member that it is the ACT Party's position and probably the ACT Ministers' around the Cabinet table that they would sell it—either all of it or part of it. So New Zealanders should remember that that is also a decision which is being considered by this Government and we deserve answers on that—answers which have not been provided by Government Ministers in this debate. I see the Minister for State Owned Enterprises here so I hope he will take a call and explain his position on everything the ACT member has raised earlier in this debate.We also need to know whether this option to procure more ships is being explored at the same time as we are trying to exit that contract. Is New Zealand—because this Government represents us in these international agreements with Hyundai Mipo. We ask whether New Zealand is on the hook for one contract while also entering into a second contract. We need to know what future generations of New Zealanders are being signed up to in terms of serious debt. There is so much more to discuss on this topic. I look forward to the Minister for State Owned Enterprises taking a call."