38 Comments

Thanks for assembling words that capture the ideology-based foolishness of this early decision of an inexperienced finance minister and Cabinet and a roads-mad minister of transport. This would be farce to laugh at, if not for the serious public dollars wasted.

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Chris I don’t always like your contributions but this one is spectacularly good!! Thank you! I laughed at several of your points, with delight at your courage!! Thank you thank you thank you!! Hope many others feel the same!!👍🌟🍀

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Logistics 101 in a nutshell

Logistics 102, if studied, will show why such strategic assets belong in public ownership

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100% for this one Chris. NZ will pay dearly for this debacle and all the others.

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Hit the nail on the head, Chris. A stupid knee-jerk reaction by National, without having a serious look at the numbers - plus, as you say, a baked-in animosity to rail.

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Simeon Brown needs to spend a chunk of time in Japan which not only has excellent car manufacturing but also has an extraordinary rail network.

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Well put. A tragedy for our country to squander both taxpayers money and our reputation in this manner.

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I agree with you 100% Chris. Well said! Apparently the cancelation of the mega ferries will take a while yet to negotiate.

So why dosen't the Government just see if they can't renegotiate that contract and get the ships built and delivered. They had a very good deal with Hyundai.

It's the earthquake proofing that led to the blowout cost of portside infastructure was the problem. The Government should have directed kiwirail to find more cost effective solutions to overcome the blowout.

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Yes I agree with you re cost effective solutions re the blow out. Willis’s decision was so reckless in that cost effective options were not considered before the cancellation, that to me demonstrates incompetence!

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Well done Chis on a your best political analysis for quite sometime. We appreciate your bravery in publicly stating the stupidity of the inept Finance Minister's decision on canning the I Rex Ferries.

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I so agree about the railway and the damage that the huge trucks are doing to our country! Get our railway infrastructure up and running again and eliminate the need for trucks, trucks, trucks!

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spot on Chris, it's soul destroying stuff.

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National shouldn't assume we're all so pissed off with Labour that they can do anything to give tax cuts to those who have no need of them. Could the Greens and Te Pāti Māori really be worse than the level of national impoverishment being served up by Luxon and Willis?

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You’re right on the nail there Chris…

This national government should be sacked now and maybe, just maybe the iRex project could be resurrected with a third option of another ferry…

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Best Trotter article I've read in a long while. My only slight disagreement is that some other governments HAVE made the investment over the last few decades. Even the much maligned British Rail can take you from London to Edinburgh (= dist to Wgtn to Akl) in four hours and twenty minutes at half-hourly intervals.

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Willis was not a success in her last job, she has proven that she is incompetent in most areas. Cancelling the ferries was the most stupid decision that she could have made, what she should have done was modify the on shore facilities to make them economical. Shame on Luxflakes for letting her get away with what will prove to be a disaster

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It's the same every time: knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

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