Media release – Josh Willie MP, Shadow Treasurer, 3 December 2024

Spirits Fiasco deepens with bailout on the horizon

TasCorp’s GBE hearing has revealed that TT-Line’s finances are all at sea after the biggest infrastructure stuff-up in Tasmanian history.

A full review of TT-Line’s finances is underway while they continue to drown in debt brought on by the Spirits fiasco.

According to TasCorp, TT-Line have taken a leaf out of Premier Rockliff’s book and are borrowing just to pay the interest on their huge debt. They have revealed that TT-Line are still in breach of their debt agreement – six months after the breach occurred and is on track to exceed its current borrowing limit of $1 billion.

Less than a year after bailing out a Finnish shipbuilder to the tune of $80 million, the tables have turned on the Liberals and now TT-Line could require a bailout to keep the ferry operator afloat.

By showing they don’t care about the consequences of racking up record debt in government, the Liberals have set a terrible example for Tasmania’s GBEs to follow.

A bailout for TT-Line would just be another sorry episode of this whole fiasco, as the Liberals face a credit downgrade themselves for their record debt even before they bailout TT Line.

How much more is Premier Rockliff’s Spirits fiasco going to cost Tasmanians? After 10 years of financial mismanagement, it’s clear the Liberals can’t be trusted with the state’s finances.

Media release – Anita Dow MP, Deputy Labor Leader, 3 December 2024

Shadow Minister for Infrastructure

Blame game back on as TasPorts shirks Spirits responsibility

It took about 10 seconds for the TasPorts GBE hearing to reignite the blame game over the Spirits fiasco.

TasPorts’ Acting Chair directed blame for Tasmania’s biggest infrastructure stuff-up squarely towards TT-Line.

When asked whether TasPorts’ should take any responsibility for the debacle, the acting Chair extraordinarily responded “no”.

A survey conducted recently by EMRS revealed Tasmanians disagree – holding TasPorts more responsible than TT Line for the Spirits fiasco. In fact, Premier Jeremy Rockliff cancelled bonuses at TasPorts and proposed merging them with TasRail because they’ve been so bad.

Premier Rockliff told Tasmanians he was ‘pissed off’ with the situation and urged all parties to take collective responsibility for the Spirits fiasco.

Despite all this, Minister Kerry Vincent today agreed with his Acting Chair and said he didn’t think TasPorts had any responsibility for the fiasco either.

TT-Line were perfectly capable of delivering the project in Geelong with Geelong Port. If TasPorts’ hands are completely clean, why couldn’t they do the same in Devonport?

And given Michael Grainger was sacked as Chair of TT-Line for allegedly ‘playing the blame game’, what will the Premier do about the appalling display from TasPorts today?