The parliamentary oversight of the Marinus Link project falls under the Joint Select Committee on Energy Matters.
This committee is responsible for inquiring into various aspects of energy in Tasmania, and the Marinus Link is a significant part of its focus.
The decision on whether to proceed with the Marinus Link project was expected to be made by the Tasmanian Parliament in July or August this year [2025].
With the announcement of an early state election, this timeline will again be delayed and Craig Garland MHA, who is one of eight members on the committee, is calling on the State Government to release the “whole-of-state” business case which was commissioned from Treasury last year and delivered to the Government last month.
“This report is an analysis of the current costs and impacts of the project and was meant to guide its final investment decision,” said Garland.
“With the final investment decision on Marinus Link due in July, it’s highly unlikely the Committee will have finished its final report by then.
Treasury has commissioned a comprehensive, whole-of-state business case assessing the current costs and impacts of Marinus Link, North West Transmission Development (NWTD), the Battery of the Nation projects, broader renewable energy developments and forecast load growth.
Initially proposed as a two-cable project at a cost of $3 billion, the most recent publicly available estimate has ballooned to $5 billion for a single cable. This figure also includes the mandatory NWTD.
Based on the information to hand, Garland is critical of Marinus and has stated:
“What we will see is power prices go through the roof for your mum and dad householders, the industrials (Grange Resources for one) have already been told that their power price will go up 29.6% under Marinus stage one.
“This is an absurd project and the north west coast, the Braddon electorate, are the ones that are going to suffer the most from this, ” he said.
Garland has been on the Energy Committee for the last 12 months and is saying that the opinion from experts like Professor Bruce Mountain, a well-known Australian energy economist and Goanna Energy, a specialist energy consultancy are concluding “it doesn’t stack up.”
“They’re saying, we take all the risks here in Tasmanian. We take all the impacts. We pay for all that. All benefits flow north to the mainland, and if we get locked in with the national energy market (NEM) on the mainland, our power prices will go through the roof as they do so over there.
“This has been my stance on this right from the start,” said Garland.
“If you want to see an acceptable price tag on Marinus, well, I’d have to look at it as there’s so many aspects to it. I’d have to see that before I could make a call on what is acceptable.
“But at the moment, it’s all hypothetical. I don’t know what I’m dealing with, other than the information from the experts.
“And in this game, you have to take note of what the experts are saying.
“And this government, by the way, they don’t listen to anybody, you know. They don’t even listen to the best advice of their senior advisors.
“I have no trust in them to make a decision on a project of this scale.
“So if you’ve got issues with Marinus, don’t vote for those major parties. They’re in lockstep in this as they are in lockstep in everything.
“You know, Labor said the budget was the worst ever, but hey, we’re going to vote for it. The stadium. You know, wherever you look in this government there are cost oversights.
“They’re changing legislation to suit themselves. They don’t reveal the information. We’re treated like mushrooms, and we’re sick of it,” said Garland.
The Marinus Link is a proposed major interconnector that will significantly enhance capacity in the electricity grid connection between Tasmania and Victoria as part of Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM). Comprising approximately 255 kilometres of undersea and 90 kilometres of underground High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) cables, it will provide 1500 megawatts (MW) of capacity in two stages, more than tripling the existing Basslink capacity.
This project is designed to export Tasmania’s renewable hydro and wind power to the mainland, import energy when needed, and achieve its 200% renewable generation target by 2040.
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Greg Pullen
June 24, 2025 at 15:43
Craig Garland has raised those concerns which many in the community have been expressing regarding Project Marinus. This is the cable(s) plus the North West Transmission Developments.
With the Joint Select Committee on Energy Matters now dissolved for the second time because of early elections called by the Liberals, there is no way it will be reporting to Parliament before Marinus Link P/L will be wanting a decision. I can’t imagine MLPL would be happy with another six month delay before the proposition is put to Parliament.
The question I keep asking is this: What if the Tasmanian parliament gives Marinus the thumbs down on the basis that it is not in our best interests? As the junior partner with a mere 17.7% shareholding, would it be likely that the Federal and Victorian representatives on the board would respect Tasmania’s position and wind the business up? With the amount of money which has been sunk into the venture, along with the amount of political capital that’s been invested, I doubt that would happen.
What then?
My recollection is that Tasmania has a sell option on its shareholding – but only after construction has been completed. This means we would be on the hook for the NWTD ($950 million) and the Cethana pumped hydro scheme at $3.3 billion .. not to mention hosting three solar farms and thirteen new wind farms which are at various stages of development and approval.