Winston Peters: Acting Prime Minister on the questions raised around the Aratere Ferry's grounding

Winston Peters says KiwiRail need to tell the truth about the grounding of the Aratere ferry.

New Zealand First took to social media on earlier this week to raise questions about whether the grounding was caused by an auto-pilot mishap after a crew member went to get a coffee. 

Now, leaked documents confirm crews pressed a wrong button, sending the ship into auto-pilot and off course. 

Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters told Andrew Dickens the public shouldn't have to wait for an investigation to know what happened. 

He's questioning why it was on autopilot in the first place, and says taxpayers deserve answers. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Boy the inter Islander. It's not a cruise at the moment,
and fortunately for Kiwi Rail, last night's leaks went on
board the boat. They were off it. They arrived in
document form. It's a safety bulletin which was distributed to
masters on the fifth just so that they're in the loops,
that they know what's happening with their boats. And it
reveals a multitude of reasons as to why the ferry

(00:21):
ran aground three weeks ago. One of the key concerns
surrounds an auto pilot button. This is a button you
have to press for five seconds to activate, so very
hard to do accidentally, one would have thought. Now. New
Zealand First First highlighted a lot of these concerns in
a social media post on Tuesday, and Leader of New
Zealand First and also acting Prime Minister at the moment,

(00:44):
Wisin Peter's joins me, Hello, Winston, good morning. How did
your people become aware of the situation with the aditary
so that you could post about it?

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Ah, Well, they got information from people who would know,
and it was not unusual to get that information because
this has happened countless times in the past with respect
to the fairies and all we've had over the years,
going back, you know, a long time in nine eighty
six is the same regime of denial, and we're having

(01:16):
an inquiry. We're going to find out. And the fact
is it was so down obvious that the question was
what on earth was it doing on auto pilot in
the first place.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
Indeed, if we go back to Tuesday, though, you also
or your post on behalf of your party also added
a cup of coffee, which upset all the crew, and
they've employed lawyers. Can you stand by those claims about
the absenteeism for the coffee?

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Well, can I ask you this question? How would have
been on order parlot at the time and how come
we had this problem? You see, it's not complex. This
is a simple one two three, and we're not getting
any answers. And this is a tax power and operation.
And so the oginal first party put out saying, you know,
what has going on? Did somebody go for a cup
of coffee? Or what happened? Because it should never have

(02:05):
been on all to part in the first place. And
now we're getting all sorts of explanations trying and explain
the unimaginable process which should never happen in the first place.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Oh, absolutely agreed. However, the maritime lawyer did say that
the comments at the time on the Tuesday were unhelpful
and not saying.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
The maritime The maritime lawyer can say what he likes.
He's been paid to say that with the greatest effect
to him. Get to the facts before you open your mouth.
That's what I'm asking for, and that's the usual first
is asking for.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
But there's a standard procedure that you wait for the
official investigation.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
No, no, Look, Transpower was a case up north for
one hundred and ten a thousand homes lost power, and
Mayor Brown at the time here in Auckland said, look,
they did not bolt the thing down. They're taking the
plates off. It was steering their office anything. It was
a denial first of all. Then four hours later there
was an admission, why do we have to go through

(02:56):
this process when the taxpayer's interests are concerned and so
many people only people have been put out of the
you know, the their movement has been seriously affected. We've
not had a ferry for a long time. It's selling today,
I noticed, But here we've had all this delay when
the answer should be action this day and give us
the answer this day if you know what the answer is.

(03:17):
And they didn't know what the answer is, didn't they?

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, okay, So this makes Kii Rail look bad. But
we also have the the ongoing issue of the replacement
of the theories and the cancelation of the Korean order
and then the new plan that we're waiting for. So
what do you say has to happen next for Kiwi
well and the inter Islander.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
Well. The Furiy Rail was asked to try and find
two replacements, and I was the head of the Qurie
Wraiale as a minister. They were asked to have between
twenty seventeen twenty twenty, and they went out there and
instead of getting two replacements at four on a million
dollar max, they went out with a three point two
billion follow listen to things to buy, of which only

(03:58):
one fifth or twenty percent was the fairies. Do you
see what I mean? What's going on here where it's
just being led up by the nose here? And that
happened on the thirtieth of June twenty twenty one, six
months after I've gone So mister Hipkins to stop out
going out there and lying about my responsibility. It's not true.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
Okay, Can I just ask you a quick question. Northport
has been denied a permission to expand because apparently they
were reclaiming just too much land eleven point seven Hectas.
You are a representative of the North here in the Parliament,
the party that you're part of, in the government that
you're part of in a coalition agreement once economic development,
particularly in the North, and you want to fast track things,
are you going to are you going to get involved

(04:37):
with this application by Northport for an expansion.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
Look, I've been arguing for Northport for years, not because
I'm from up North. I was the MP for total
On and the most successful port for all those years.
I was there for a quarter of a century in
total on it. But here's the point. It's the only
one with the future capacity to take the corner ships
that are coming here. And I thought the decision sadly
was a disaster and the Wolds back Northern Minute has

(05:03):
a chance to be a major part of this company's infrastructure.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
So when the fast track comes in, will you can
you can you stick it into the fast track?

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Oh? I can't answer those questions. You know that that
has to be decided by the fast tracked ministers, but
also the panels that come after the fast tracking ministers
to decide independently of the government what is right and
what's wrong.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
Okay, thank you so much. Winster Peters is young first
leader and this is News Talks V and I call
one Winston Peters to advocate at least for the fast tracking,
to advocate for Northport. I'm sorry, I just think it's
a must do it, must do. For more from the
mic asking Breakfast, listen live to News Talks it V
from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.