Politics
Spirited away …
Philippa Duncan
THE Spirit of Tasmania ferries are enduring their “worst winter” yet and a Melbourne-to-Devonport ferry recently sailed with 551 empty seats.
The Libs …
Media Release
Liberal Tourism Spokesman
RENE HIDDING, MHA
Wednesday July 26, 2006
Premier, Minister warned of deteriorating TT Line viability
Premier Paul Lennon and former Minister, Bryan Green, concealed a significant deterioration in the TT Line’s viability from the public during the election campaign.
They also misled Tasmanians about the viability of the Spirit III service by talking up its future under Labor when they were aware of revised forecasts of significant losses facing the TT Line, in part due to fuel costs associated with the Sydney ferry service.
Government Business Enterprise hearings were told today that on December 13, 2005, Minister Green was advised that TT Line was expecting losses of $42 million for 20o5/06 – 16 p.c. higher than forecast.
They also heard Minister Green had been advised by TT Line there were issues relating to whether Spirit III was an essential part of its transport infrastructure, and that the financial situation of the company was being closely monitored.
The revelations cast grave new doubt on Mr Green’s claims that he wasn’t aware of concerns about the viability of Spirit III when he blatantly talked up the future of the service during the election campaign, and announced extra sailings days before the poll was called.
Premier Paul Lennon is equally implicated, as he too talked up the future of Spirit III before the election when he must have also, as the Treasurer and shareholder Minister, been aware of the forecast blow-out in losses.
Labor announced after the election that it would scrap Spirit III because it was not viable.
Shadow Tourism Minister, Rene Hidding, said it was implausible that Minister Green could claim he wasn’t aware of concerns about Spirit III’s viability when he knew losses for TT Line were expected to soar from $36 million to $42 million, in part due to the costs of running the Spirit III service.
“How this Minister could have promised so strongly the retention of Spirit III, when he’d known for months that TT Line was expecting even heavier losses than the huge ones forecast beggars belief,” Mr Hidding said.
“Irrespective of whether Easter bookings for the Sydney service were looking good or not, Minister Green must have been alarmed by the forecast blow out in losses for the company, but rather than exercising caution and diligence, he misled Tasmanians about how well the service was doing for sheer political expediency.”
Mr Hidding said today’s revelation was a further indictment on Minister Green’s accountability as a Minister following his dubious and potentially illegal dealings on the eve of the election with Tasmanian Compliance Corporation.