Stoush heats up on ferry future

GOVERNMENT Minister Michael Ferguson and Opposition M PD avid O’ Byrne have clashed in a heated Public Accounts Committee hearing over the future of the replacement Spirit of Tasmania vessels.

During Wednesday’s PAC hearing into the state’s response to COVID-19, Mr O’Byrne took Mr Ferguson to task over aspects of the process.

It comes after the government announced in July it was going back to the drawing board to find replacement ferries for the TT-Line.

The two new ferries were supposed to be in service in March next year. Instead, the government went against the advice of the TT-Line board and now aims to try to find a local builder for some or all of the $850m-plus project.

Mr O’Byrne quizzed Mr Ferguson about the make-up of a task force established to look into options for thereplacement vessels.

“Why are you not seeking tourism advice?” Mr O’Byrne said. “Why have you not chosen to put a committee that understands boatbuilding apart from [TT-Line CEO] Bernard Dwyer himself ?”

Mr Ferguson said the task force had a job to do and had significant capability.

“We are in the midst of a global recession. The industry that builds ships around the world has been smashed,’’ he said.

Mr Ferguson said the government wanted a solution that was fit for purpose to operate across Bass Strait, but was now looking for an outcome that maximised local jobs.

Mr Ferguson objected to many of Mr O’Byrne’s lines of questioning about the topic.

An exchange continued between Mr O’Byrne and Mr Ferguson, prompting committee chair ML C Ivan Dean to intervene and “move away from any conflict”.

“I feel sorry for your committee that you have to tolerate this behaviour from one of your members,” Mr Ferguson said.

The government’s move to go back to the drawing board came three years into the replacement project, leaving questions about who will build the ferries, at what cost and specification, and when they might be delivered.