The likelihood work on Berth 3 at the Devonport Port to cater for the new Spirit of Tasmania ferries will be completed by January 2026 has neither been confirmed nor denied by the state’s Industry and Business Minister.
TT-Line and TasPorts have both blamed each other for delays in the upgrades, which will prevent the first of the new Spirit ferries—expected in the coming months—from operating at full capacity across the Bass Strait.
Quizzing Minister Eric Abetz at a budget estimates hearing this week, Labor MP Anita Dow said the new vessels are of great importance to businesses in the north-west.
“Some of those industries include the tourism industry, but there are many others, including horticulture, that rely on the freight task of those new vessels to get their products to market and are already doing planning around that,” she said.
“Can you guarantee that works at Berth 3 at the Devonport Port will be completed by January 2026 as your government has committed to?”
Abetz responded by saying that he can only commit to TT-Line continuing to provide a service that ensures Tasmanian produce reaches the mainland overnight.
“In the event the demand increases, TT-Line has already told us that they will be putting on extra sailings,” he said.
“The government at the moment … is getting information and advice from Ben Moloney and Peter Gemmell, two experts, to see how that which has occurred can be put behind us, to ensure that we get this moving as quickly as possible.”
“There are some who always want to look into the past. There are those of us who want to get on with the job and look to the future and that is my mindset.”
Dow countered that the Labor party is focused on the future and not the past, saying that Tasmanians simply want transparency about time frames.
“They want to know now. They want your government to be honest about the time frames that you set and whether you’ll actually meet them,” she said.
Abetz reiterated that the government is waiting for expert advice from Moloney and Gemmell to chart the way forward.
“If you want an answer now, it would be like going to the doctor saying, ‘I want an answer how to fix me’ before a diagnosis is made,” he said.
“We need the diagnosis … we then need a prospective treatment.”
Further advice is expected at a hearing into TT-Line later in the year.
