Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We talk a lot about transparency in this place, but it's not only Canberra that needs more sunlight to disinfect our politics; it's also our parliament down there in Tasmania. Just last week, the state Liberal Minister for Energy and Renewables, Guy Barnett, has been referred to the Privileges and Conduct Committee, and so he should be. And guess what it is over. Yep, the Marinus Link, the undersea electricity cable between Tasmania and Victoria. Minister Barnett failed to deliver the full costing of the Marinus Link to the Tasmanian parliament. Independents in the Tasmanian parliament have been asking all the right questions and getting absolutely no answers, as usual. The Tasmanian taxpayer is facing potentially underwriting billions of dollars for the AFL stadium with a so-called roof, the Marinus Link and the North West Transmission Developments line. Instead of being honest with Tasmanians, the Rockliff Liberal government has just been trying to push everything through with as little scrutiny as possible.

The Independents in Tasmania's parliament have all rightly pointed out that TasNetworks have said that just six per cent of the benefits of Marinus will come to Tasmania. Professor Bruce Mountain from the Victoria Energy Policy Centre has said, 'The claims that Marinus will reduce prices in Tasmania and Victoria are rubbish.' The other thing that is rubbish is the lack of transparency in our state parliament in Tasmania. Tasmanian families are facing a cost-of-living crisis, and they need to know if Tasmanian taxpayers are going to be saddled with debt that they will be paying off for generations and simply cannot afford. Seriously, I tell you you are on your last legs down there, Premier, and these transparency issues are not helping. If this Marinus Link is such a great deal then show us the economics behind it, big boy, because we're just not buying it.