The months-long Spirits of Tasmania saga has exposed Michael Ferguson’s failures as Minister as he oversaw costs blowouts and delays on the delivery of the new ferries and berths. In the Public Accounts Committee hearing today, further failures of Minister Ferguson have been revealed in evidence from the former TT Line chair and outgoing CEO – including the potential the Minister has misled Parliament.
This is perhaps the biggest infrastructure debacle in Tasmania’s history, but Michael Ferguson has not been transparent about this colossal stuff up. We’ve seen information gradually extracted from the Minister over months – despite his best efforts at obfuscation. Now the former Chair and outgoing CEO of the TT Line have contradicted statements from Minister Ferguson about what he knew during the new Spirit of Tasmania and berths debacle.
The evidence provided under oath by both these witnesses raises big questions about whether Michael Ferguson has misled Parliament about project costs, delays to port upgrades, and when he knew the shipbuilder was in financial trouble.
These senior TT Line figures say Minister Ferguson was made aware of the serious financial issues facing shipbuilder RMC in October last year, and of a formal negotiating position regarding additional costs in January. They also said they had continually raised concerns about delays to the port upgrade project. This is a very different picture than the one painted by the Minister in previous statements to Parliament.
Whether the Minister has misled Parliament is a major issue. But there’s also now new questions about why Michael Ferguson pressed ahead with a plan for an interim port solution, despite advice from the TT Line that it may be unsafe.
Michael Ferguson has been the sole responsible shareholder Minister during the period which saw cost blowouts and delays in delivering the new ferries and berths. His ineptitude in managing this critical project has been shocking, and now he has a lot of questions to answer about whether he’s been transparent with Parliament – especially given he’s still a shareholder Minister to the ferries debacle he’s overseen.
