The Independent Member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie, joined the Independent Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie and Mr Peter Brohier, convener of National Sea Highway Groups, to demand the Federal Government remove the biggest economic handbrake on Tasmania – the crippling cost of transporting freight, people and vehicles across Bass Strait.
“Bass Strait is the most significant brake on the Tasmanian economy and the easiest to fix,’’ Mr Wilkie said. “Sailors in the Sydney to Hobart race fear Bass Strait but not as much as Tasmanian businesses do. This must be one of the most expensive stretches of water in the world to cross.’’
“Take the bill for moving a hypothetical 20-foot container from Hobart to a port in North America. It costs about $500 to move it from Hobart to the north of the state. Then it’s another $1000 across Bass Strait. Then from the Port of Melbourne to North America it’s only $500. So three quarters of the cost is just getting the container from Hobart to Melbourne. This puts Tasmanian businesses at a fundamental disadvantage.
“The Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme provides some subsidies but they’re inadequate and full of holes. For too long a succession Federal Government have put the cost of Bass Strait in the too hard basket and tinkered around the edges.
“But the solution is simple. We need a sensible subsidy for all passengers, vehicles and freight to remove this geographic disadvantage. Yes funding to the scheme will need to increase. But in the long term Canberra will save money as Tasmanian businesses are turbo charged and more people are employed, resulting in less need for federal handouts to Tasmania in other areas.
“I call again on the Government to increase funding for subsidies for Bass Strait shipping and in particular to work cooperatively with other senators to achieve this important reform.’’
EARLIER on Tasmanian Times …
… Peter Brohier has written extensively on the Bass Strait problem including:
• The Question of Bass Strait … Dial Peter Brohier into the TT search engine for other articles.
• Committee for Bass Strait Transport Equality (CBSTE)
Feds asked to finally fix Bass Strait
Susan Macdonald, joint coordinator of the CBSTE said in Launceston today, “in 1996 John Howard recognised that the transport disadvantage posed by Bass Strait is the single most serious impediment to growth in jobs, investment and population for Tasmania. Almost two decades later successive federal governments have failed to deliver a comprehensive and effective National Sea Highway across Bass Strait.
The Committee for Bass Strait Transport Equality, first formed in 1992 campaigned for transport equality for people and vehicles crossing the Strait by sea. As a result the Bass Strait Passenger Vehicle Equalisation Scheme (BSPVES) was introduced in 1996. However, despite Bass Strait being the sea highway between Tasmania and the other Australian states, “equalisation schemes” to date have been overwhelmingly focused on the southbound leisure travel market and have ignored southbound freight.
The Committee calls on the Federal Government to replace the existing uncapped schemes with an equalisation formula that offers consistent fares all year round and applies to all people and all vehicles. Freight equalisation should be applied to southbound as well as northbound goods to prevent the cost of consumer goods in Tasmania being unnecessarily high.
With billions of dollars now being spent on infrastructure links across our nation, the two existing equalisation schemes are an historical anachronism. The question should not be where is the money to come from, but what has Canberra done to direct the uncapped money the people obtained under the Bass Strait Passenger Vehicle Equalisation Scheme (BSPVES) to achieve equity for transport of both people and vehicles.
It is time the Federal government finally invested in Tasmania’s future by delivering a National Highway link across Bass Strait equalising the cost of movement of all people, vehicles and freight to the cost of highway travel.”
