Spirit of Tasmania replacement: Another major project left all at sea

You can’t get a more Tasmanian outcome than the government’s latest ferries announcement. It’s the maritime version of the Bridgewater Bridge or Macquarie Point.

• Ferry operator forced to search onshore for new ship builder
• Premier out to sea on new ferries

FOR the past few years, the government has loudly insisted to all and sundry that all was well with the $850 million TT-Line ferries replacement, which was announced in 2015.

In 2018, it was then Infrastructure Minister Jeremy Rockliff loudly proclaiming the “government’s strong financial management” meant the “biggest ever infrastructure investment by a Tasmanian Government” was on track “to be delivered in the summer of 2021”.

Questions raised in parliament have been batted aside and media inquiries treated with derision as timelines blew out and the contracted shipbuilder fell by the wayside and a replacement found.

The Spirit of Tasmania I docked in Port Melbourne.

On Tuesday, the two new Spirits have run into an iceberg in the shape of a taskforce.

Now we are getting an uncertain result from an unknown builder at an indefinite time.

You can’t get a more Tasmanian outcome than that. It is the maritime version of the Bridgewater Bridge or Macquarie Point.

It is almost as if the state government isn’t good at delivering major projects. Tuesday’s announcement raises more questions than it answers.

If this idea didn’t originate in the TT-Line boardroom or in state cabinet, where did it come from?

Why increase hopes a ship might be built locally when that option has already been considered and ruled out?

Why suggest catamaran builders Incat might be in the running when a single-hull vessel is required?

When was the last time an Australian shipbuilder built a roll-on roll-off car ferry?

Is there any shipbuilder in Australia who can build a 200m ferry with capacity for 1800 passengers and 600 vehicles?

Instead of new ferries, we will be lucky to have a result from the task force by summer.

Demand for Bass Strait crossings is down at the moment. Thanks to the coronavirus, nobody is going anywhere much.

A bit like this project.

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