DIVING FOR COVER
REVEALED: State rejected warship in January but told nobody
NEGOTIATIONS to secure retired warship HMAS Darwin for a dive wreck off the Gold Coast have sunk amid claims the State Government deliberately misled the city.
Fadden MP Stuart Robert said he only found out late last week that the Queensland Government had written to the Ministry of Defence in January to say it was not interested in bidding for one of three available frigates.
“We have been negotiating in good faith with the State Government for nearly six months only to find out that we have been sold out,” said Mr Robert. State Tourism Minister Kate Jones said the cost of the project would be $30m, not $10m as claimed by Mr Robert.
NEGOTIATIONS to secure retired warship HMAS Darwin for a dive wreck off the Gold Coast have sunk amid claims the State Government deliberately misled the city.
Gold Coast federal MPs, Mayor Tom Tate and the Palaszczuk Government have been in talks in the past six months to secure a lucrative dive site for the city.
The underwater attraction is a tourism gold mine and has been on the city’s radar for some time.
However, a furious Fadden MP Stuart Robert said he found out late last week that the Queensland Government had written to the Ministry of Defence in January to say it was not interested in bidding for one of three available frigates – the HMAS Darwin, Newcastle or Melbourne.
“We have been negotiating in good faith with the State Government for nearly six months only to find out that we have been sold out,” said Mr Robert, who raised the prospect of luring a ship to the Coast in Parliament weeks after the State Government’s “secret” letter.
Sources close to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk last night said she did not write to the Ministry of Defence in January, nor was the decision to end negotiations made by Cabinet.
State Tourism Minister Kate Jones last night said the cost of scuttling the HMAS Darwin, Newcastle or Melbourne off the Queensland coast would cost more than $30 million – potentially three times the cost of exHMAS Tobruk.
Mr Robert said the claim was “absolute crap” and the real cost was $10 million.
“Over the past six months, we have had a number of discussions with the Queensland Government about buying a warship for the Gold Coast,” Mr Robert said.
“In fact, I had a discussion with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, which was witnessed by the Mayor, at the Commonwealth Games baton relay reception on the Coast.
“I said to her we could secure HMAS Darwin for the Gold Coast if the State Government tipped in $8 million and the council $2 million towards the total cost of $10 million. She made a funny quip about a federal election coming up next year and that maybe the Commonwealth should put in more.
“At no stage did she say, ‘I’m sorry. We have already said no to your Federal Government colleagues’. If she had said, ‘We can’t do it, we don’t have the money’, I wouldn’t feel so incensed. But there was none of that from the Premier.”
News of the letter stunned Mayor Tom Tate yesterday and he was last night planning to phone the Premier, who is in the US with Ms Jones, to discuss the matter.
“I will give the State Government the benefit of the doubt and I’m hopeful this was a mistake by a bureaucrat,” he said.
“I thought everything was full steam ahead. If the State Government knew about this decision, that would be unfathomable.”
Cr Tate has been lobbying for a dive wreck off the Gold Coast for two years.
IF THE STATE GOVERNMENT KNEW ABOUT THIS DECISION, THAT WOULD BE UNFATHOMABLE MAYOR TOM TATE