Premier Jeremy Rockliff has hit back at “mistruths” surrounding the new Spirit of Tasmania vessels, accusing Labor of trying to “wrap every positive project in toxic negativity”.
The back-and-forth comes after Labor claimed figures from government documents show it will cost $1.2 million per month to store the first of the two new ferries in Scotland.
“That is not true,” Rockliff said on social media.
The figure has been estimated as a total of approximately $24.3 million, assuming a suitable berth in Devonport is operational by July 2026.
However, if the ship gets leased before then as is being pursued, the cost of storage would end up much lower.
“The project has absolutely had challenges, I’d be the first to agree with that,” Rockliff said.
“But we’ve charted a course forward that gets it back on track and we will be getting this done.”
He said Labor’s calls to bring Spirit IV to Tasmania to sit idle would “completely miss out on the millions in revenue that it could earn from a lease”.
“Spirit IV will head to Scotland in the short-term while we keep looking into potential leases, of which there has been interest,” he said.
“To sail her halfway around the world to Tasmania and then have to sail her all the way back for a potential lease would needlessly cost many millions of dollars, a great deal more than what we’re paying now.”
But Labor leader Dean Winter remains unconvinced.
“I’m sceptical about their ability to lease the ships, so I think this is a bit of a distraction,” he said.
“All of this is really being built up around trying to keep these ships out of Tasmanian waters because, let’s face it, they will be floating billboards for the ineptitude and the incompetence of Jeremy Rockliff and his government.”
“Tasmanian taxpayers will literally be spending $40,000 every day to berth our ship in Scotland. It is outrageous.”
“It makes no sense at all. And every single dollar that’s spent overseas on these ships is money that can’t be spent in our healthcare system, in our schools, all the places that Tasmania really needs it.”
