Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to table a petition that was presented at my office on 10 July by the Maritime Union of Australia in support of Spirit of Tasmania III. Unfortunately, the MUA really have got the story sadly wrong in relation to this particular petition. The real facts behind the story are that Spirit of Tasmania III is a ship that was owned by the Tasmanian government through the TT Line and that the decision to purchase the ship was made by the Tasmanian government through the TT Line—

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Against Treasury advice.

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As Senator Abetz says, it was against Treasury advice at the time. They ignored very strong Treasury advice that the ship should not be purchased in the first place. Also, during the state election campaign the then minister, Brian Green, indicated that there were no problems, everything was okay and they would guarantee to hold the ship in service for a further three years.

Unfortunately after the election campaign, during the GBE inquiries in Tasmania, it transpired that in fact Mr Green had been advised in December of last year that there were issues with the future service of the ship. So it is quite clear that Mr Green misled the people of Tasmania during the election campaign. The Spirit of Tasmania III was a significant campaign issue for both sides of politics. The Labor Party in Tasmania used that particular issue quite extensively in their campaign, indicating that they had a further three years of support. Alas, after the election campaign the veil was removed. I might add that there were a whole range of other issues where commitments were made to the Tasmanian people prior to the election which subsequently turned out not to be the case after the election. I am sure the Tasmanian people will remember that. It was decided by the state government to sell the ship.

The MUA made a number of quite untrue allegations about the ship, the reasons why it was going and who should be supporting it in leaving. The petition calls on the Australian government to fund the continuance of the Spirit of Tasmania III. The Australian government makes a significant contribution to the Spirit of Tasmania III. In fact of TT Line’s 2004-05 revenue, $32.409 million came from the Australian government, so somewhere close to 20 per cent of their revenues came from the Australian government. The Australian government also has measures in place which allow for the rebating of diesel fuel used on the ship, so effectively all fuel used on those ships is free to TT Line. I seek the indulgence of the chamber to table this petition that was presented to my office. This has been quite a dishonest campaign by the MUA.

Leave granted.