FORMER TT-Line chairman Nick Evers says he has been a victim of “political spin-doctoring” as the State Government tries to off-load the blame for the costly Sydney to Devonport ferry.
Writes Crawford:
He has also launched a broadside in a letter to Auditor-General Mike Blake expressing “disquiet at the manner in which you have proceeded” with the inquiry into the TT-Line.
Mr Evers said the Government’s “apparent over-riding interest” in the TT-Line had been “to take advantage of photo opportunities”.
For years, the Government had been sent board minutes and papers, but had shown little or no interest.
The “questions and criticisms only erupted when their tails were scorched by the prospect of political pressure” over the performance of the Spirit of Tasmania III.
Now, said Mr Evers, he believed he and other members dropped from the board had been made scapegoats as the Government sought to demonstrate “they are tough and disciplined managers of the State’s affairs”.
Mr Evers — a former senior state and federal bureaucrat, diplomat, business executive and deputy general manager then chairman of the Australian Tourism Commission — was a senior member of the Gray Liberal Government between 1986-90 with portfolios which included transport.
His resignation as TT-Line chairman was revealed on March 15, the day Premier Paul Lennon asked the Auditor-General to investigate the operations of the government-owned shipping line and its board and announced a $115 million subsidy to keep the Spirit II operating for another three years.
Mr Evers said yesterday that on March 11 he got a phone call from the Premier’s chief of staff, Rod Scott.
Mr Scott had told him the Premier was very concerned at the implications of the problems with the Sydney service.
Mr Scott had quoted the Premier as saying, “however we eat this one, it’s still going to be a sh(it) sandwich”.
etc, etc …
The full story: Evers “victim of spin doctoring”
Jason Lovell
June 23, 2005 at 07:25
Interesting to note that Nick Evers thinks he’s been the victim of political spin doctoring following his resignation from TT Line.
Um, Nick, it was the board of TT Line, your board, which utterly failed in its duty to properly investigate the viability of Spirit III. Under your leadership.
Methinks he doth protest a bit too much and that everybody involved in the sorry saga of Spirit III has had a taste of the infamous brown sanger at some stage.
It seems obvious to me that Spirit III was purchased to give the Tasmanian Government and Jim Bacon some good news to announce in 2003, at a time when they were under a lot of pressure in the parliament. And they didn’t just announce the purchase either – they used their favoured strategy of leaking the good news repeatedly and then hijacking the political arena with multiple announcements, effectively sweeping away all that potential bad news.
One hundred and fifty odd million dollars later and the entire state is biting that sandwich now; Tasmania could have built a brand new hospital on a greenfields site for the money that’s been wasted on Spirit III.
And it’s all been for nothing really – propping up the popularity of a government that was already popular.
What a farce.
phill Parsons
June 24, 2005 at 07:37
All very interesting.
However, it seems inherent in government is a repetition of process where Peters are promoted regardless of performance. Perhaps it is an unaviodable principle.
Evers has admitted he led the board whilst clinically depressed. Ken Bacon must continue to wonder about Labor mates.
Now we have a 3 year committment to the SYD-DPO ferry and, I hope, an understanding of the need to compete for the middle spender to fill the passenger capacity.
The high end tourist strategy will see a per visitor spend but may leave us with lots of leg room, plenty of road space and places Tasmanians can visit without crowds.
Appealing to the high end is not a business strategy adopted by the big retail traders.
The tourist market is complex and getting the mix of prices and modes right is not an easy task. Some experience over time may assist.
And then there is the direct freight link. Perhaps the 3 year life for the ferry will assist the export of fresh produce to develop and assist in showing whether this investment has a medium to long term benefit to several sectors of the economy.
Incumbent on the government is to be ruthless in ensuring that the board and staff are able to perform.
The indicators should be clearer by the next election.