The Tasmanian Government has confirmed taxpayers will fork out $47,000 per week to keep the first new Spirit of Tasmania ferry in Scotland.
Deputy Premier Guy Barnett said Spirit IV will remain at the Leith Port for “a minimum of 30 days” while leasing options are explored.
He said that, for the next month, the indefinite stopover will come at a cost of “some $47,000 per week and ancillary costs on top of that”.
“TT-line are expediting their investigations into leasing options and that’s well underway,” Barnett told reporters on Wednesday.
“I’m advised that they are expediting those options and looking at those very carefully to ensure that we get the best deal for Tasmania to ensure that we protect the taxpayer.”
Transport Minister Eric Abetz confirmed the average weekly cost works out to be $47,534 AUD, plus ancillary services.
“I would note that this figure is significantly – seven times – less than the $280,000 peddled by the Leader of the Opposition, Dean Winter, who has been spreading misinformation as part of his fear campaign,” Abetz said.
The figures spruiked by Labor were taken from a State Growth report and put the cost of storage in Leith at $40,000 a day, or $1.2 million a month.
Labor leader Dean Winter maintains a foreign country should not be given the opportunity to lease the vessel and that “should be here in Tasmania” instead.
“This is a disgraceful decision that’s all about Jeremy Rockliff’s political fortunes and not about the best interests of Tasmanian taxpayers,” he said.
“Tasmanian taxpayers have already lost hundreds of millions of dollars on this project.”
He said the “best outcome” is to get the ferries sailing down to Tasmania.
“We need our ships to come home. We need to bring the ships home. We need to look after them here, fit them out here with Tasmanian workers,” Winter said.
