Labour is criticising National for repudiating the contract to build new Cook Strait ferries without a back-up plan.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis halted the construction of two replacement ferries after the iReX project's budget blew out to nearly $3 billion in December.
KiwiRail is still negotiating the exit from the $551 million contract signed with Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in 2021.
The government has considered buying second-hand or new, slightly smaller and not rail-enabled ferries instead - but has not yet made a decision.
In a statement released on Sunday, Labour's transport spokesperson Tangi Utikere said it was a complete failure.
"It was just the beginning of the poor decision making this Government is becoming famous for."
Utikere told RNZ this would not have happened under a Labour government.
"The reality is we had a solution in place, we were working on that, what we would not have done is made the call that they've done without a plan B in place," he said.
"We're still waiting to hear from the government what that plan is. They've told us that they want a resilient connection between the North and South Island, however their actions are showing that they're not serious about that right now."
Utikere said, after nearly eight months of the coalition government being in power, it remains to be seen what it will do.
"We continue to wait, and as we do, the costs will continue to grow.
"The consequences for Kiwis will be that they will have to wait more time and will mean that things like freight are going to be more expensive."
