Finance Minister Bill English accepts the Government should have intervened earlier at Solid Energy.
A report by Deloitte has questioned whether the Treasury responded quickly enough or forcefully enough to problems at the troubled State coal company.
The Labour Party says this proves both Mr English and State Owned Enterprises Minister Tony Ryall were negligent in dealing with the company.
Mr English concedes the Government should have acted faster. He told Radio New Zealand's Morning Report on Wednesday the one thing that could have been done better was to start sacking the workforce sooner and stop some speculative investments - maybe three to six months earlier.
He said it would have meant slightly smaller losses for the Crown, but it would not have preserved jobs.
The report recommended that the Treasury take a more active approach in monitoring state-owned enterprises.
