· Minister’s visit leaves many questions unanswered
· Island residents continue to raise concerns
· Sturges flags open cheque book for Flinders shipping service
Whilst a contingency plan is certainly needed for sea freight to Flinders Island I remain concerned that Infrastructure Minister Graeme Sturges still fails to understand the crux of the problem.
It is apparent that Flinders Island is unhappy with the current operator of the service and yet the Government appears to have failed to enter into any meaningful dialogue with them regarding these concerns.
Quite extraordinarily it has been reported that the Government is to take an open cheque book approach to the problem which hardly places Tasmanian taxpayers or the people of Flinders Island in a strong bargaining position.
We need to know the details of the contingency arrangements.
What precise arrangements has the Government made to ensure the LD Shipping vessel is able to seamlessly sail into the breach should it be required?
Importantly, what will be the cost of this arrangement?
And how serious is Mr Sturges regarding his reported statement that “buying the service was an option”?
What needs to be explained is whether or not the Minister has spoken with Southern Shipping about this option, and importantly has Graeme Sturges had any discussions with Southern Shipping’s owner about the concerns being raised by Flinders Council and businesses regarding the service?
Graeme Sturges needs to provide some answers to these very important questions.
Peter Gutwein MP Liberal Member for Bass
