The new Spirits should be operating from Devonport by now, but because of the Government’s incompetence and mismanagement, Tasmanians are paying millions for them to sit on the other side of the world with nowhere to operate from.

Premier Rockliff has claimed hiding the ships in Scotland will minimise the cost to the Tasmanian taxpayers, but according to TT-Line, it will cost the Tasmanian taxpayers $1.2 million per month to store the ships in Scotland.

It makes absolutely no sense, unless the Liberals' only goal is to keep them out of sight from Tasmanian taxpayers who are paying for their complete incompetence.

The business community says it has lost trust in this government and that's now showing up in the figures, with Tasmania having lost 6,000 jobs since Jeremy Rockliff first took Tasmania into minority government and NAB’s latest survey showing business conditions and confidence plummeting  

This is exactly why Labor will seek to establish a Parliamentary Committee to oversee the project until the boats are finally sailing out of the Mersey fully loaded with passengers and freight. Premier Rockliff should be making decisions based on the best interests of Tasmanians, not his minority government’s reputation.

The Spirits fiasco has ripped $3 billion worth of economic activity away from Tasmania, impacting small businesses reliant on the new ships – like the caravan park run by Gavin Imlach. Without additional booking capacity on the Spirits, businesses like Gavin’s will continue to feel the pain of Jeremy Rockliff’s failure.

The Premier claimed he would increase double sailings, but TT-Line haven’t even come close to maxing out the number of sailings available this summer. Instead of spending millions to keep the ships overseas, Premier Rockliff should focus on working the existing ships as hard as he can to back in Tasmanians like Gavin.

Dean Winter MP
Labor Leader
Shadow Minister for Tourism & Hospitality

Anita Dow MP
Deputy Labor Leader
Shadow Minister for Infrastructure