Labor calls on government to provide more information on Spirit IV leasing negotiations

Labor says the public ‘have a right to know’ where the Spirits might be leased to while also reiterating calls for the new ship to be moved to Tasmania from Scotland.

Alamy Live News. 2YRB6W8 Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. 3rd December, 2024. The newly built Spirit of Tasmania IV passenger ferry arrives at Port of Leith to be. Mothballed for up to two years. The 212m-long dual-fuel ferry will be stored at Port of Leith because it is too large to fit the existing berths in the Australian city of Devonport. It was moved from it?s shipyard in Finland because of winter pack ice. The controversy has been politicians resign and is being called the biggest State scandal in a decade. Iain Masterton/Alamy Live News

The state government has cited commercial confidentiality as the reason it has not divulged more information about the progress of negotiations regarding the leasing of the new Spirit of Tasmania.

It comes as Labor calls on the government to provide more information about how the leasing process is going.

Minister for Transport Eric Abetz. Picture: David Killick.

But Transport Minister Eric Abetz accused Labor of constantly opposing “Tasmanians getting the best possible return for our Spirits.”

“It comes as no surprise that they would now seek to undermine live commercial negotiations for their own tacky political purposes,” Mr Abetz said.

“TT-Line have now entered into live negotiations and require a few more weeks to finalise these, and we will provide a further update at that time.

“If Labor had their way, we wouldn’t get a return on investment.”

Labor Finance Spokesman Luke Edmunds said the public deserved to know how negotiations were going.

“Tasmanians paid more than $1b for these ships; I think we have a right to know where they might be going,” Mr Edmunds said.

“If they want to keep this information secret the whole way, though, keep up the charade of keeping the ships in Scotland; how are we going to know if this is a good deal for Tasmanians?

“If the first time we find out about it is after the ink is dry, where’s the scrutiny on that?

“Ultimately, this has been a shambles from start to finish by this government, and we’re rightly calling for the information now so Tasmanians who paid $1b for these ships can actually be informed about the details.”

Luke Edmunds Labor member for Pembroke. Picture: Caroline Tan

Mr Edmunds reiterated Labor’s previous calls for the Spirit IV to be brought from Leith in Scotland to Tasmania.

“The ship is currently berthed there because the associated port infrastructure in Devonport is not ready to allow the ship to transport passengers to and from Geelong.

The infrastructure in Devonport is expected to not be complete until February 2027.

“We should finish the local fit-out here, and let’s have them ready to go when the berthing infrastructure is ready to operate as well,” Mr Edmunds said.

“They should be in Tasmania; any arguments about cost is moot because we’re talking about TasPorts here, which the government owns.”

In terms of leasing the ships, Mr Edmunds said he believed Premier Jeremy Rockliff - not TT-Line - should make the final decision.

Originally published as Labor calls on government to provide more information on Spirit IV leasing negotiations