Winston Peters has been announced as the new Minister for Rail, which includes ferries, and it comes as no surprise.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis says she had appreciated the”wisdom and experience” he brought to Cabinet discussions in recent months – which highlighted his passion for the industry.
The Deputy Prime Minister and New Zealand First Leader says he wants to complete the job he started four years ago.
“I asked for the job in 2017 when it was seriously run down, and I seriously enjoyed turning that around dramatically. And we’re very proud of what we did, and we were on the way to seriously getting a modern railway system in this country when, unfortunately, I was no longer elected into parliament. So here we are, four years later, got the chance to do all that again, and we will hit the ground running, I can assure you,” says Peters.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says he is confident Peters will ensure the new ferry replacement project is delivered in full, on time, and under budget.
The coalition government has replaced Labour’s $3.2 billion iRex ferry project with a plan to procure two new vessels.
However, key details such as cost, builder, and whether the vessels will be rail-enabled remain unclear.
