Interislander should be sold off, not kept afloat by taxpayers

Responding to repeated incidents and mismanagement with the Interislander ferry service, the Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Government to sell off the Interislander ferry service instead of funnelling even more taxpayer money into it.

Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“The government has proven, yet again, that is is not a good operator of ferries. There is no doubt New Zealand would get a better service if we had multiple competing private operators on the Cook Strait.

“They should be selling the Interislander ferry service while it’s still worth something, not repeating the mistakes of the previous government and pouring more money down the drain where Kiwirail is clearly not competent enough to manage it.

“There is no reason that taxpayers must be kept on the hook for the Interislander. Bluebridge already operates a commercially viable service without taxpayer funding, demonstrating a privately owned and operated service is possible.

“This government was elected to make the tough but necessary decisions to sort out the country’s finances. Instead they are simply doing the same as before but promising to manage it better.”