Ms BURNET (Clark) – Deputy Speaker, I thank the Labor Party for bringing this important matter of public interest for debate. We have talked about the debacle of the TT‑Line and TasPorts’ delay of those ferries, and it has hit tourism very hard. The impact on the north west businesses, in particular – and Ms Dow spoke about those and I have spoken about that before – is incredibly damaging. It is so damaging and so much so that this has cost the government $500,000 for a Regional Hospitality Revival Fund which was announced in 2024, so, a bailout of a damaged tourism sector.
The billion‑dollar infrastructure and transport nightmare which is the TT-Line ferries ‑ TT‑Line and TasPorts debacle has caused enormous brand damage to Tasmania. We have seen that worldwide. We have unfortunately seen Tasmania become a laughingstock because these ferries have not been able to be delivered and so, what we saw with some of the fallout of TT‑Lines and TasPorts is a governance review.
It is all very well having a governance review of our state‑owned companies and GBEs, partly as a result of that, partly because it had not been investigated for quite some time nor reviewed. But before this governance review is complete, there was a suggestion by the government to merge TT‑Line, TasPorts and TasRail. That looks like it is just set for sale to the highest bidder and we know that there is clear folly, as Mr Willie has spoken about, in relation to selling off TasRail before and having to buy it back again. There are huge risks to the government, not only in the brand for Tasmania and the brand damage that we have already seen, but specifically those small tourism operators, particularly in the north-west, affecting the whole of Tasmania.
This has a huge impact on the tourism sector and I think the government forgets that with privatisation and this talk of privatisation that there is real concern about the impact on individuals and individual security. It is all very well the Premier blaming Labor for a scare campaign, but I would be very scared if I were a public sector employee with the government’s move to privatise GBEs and various institutions. It is not good enough.
My colleague, Ms Badger, talked about the impact of a private industry and privatisation of our waters with the salmon industry and it is such a bad look for Tasmania and for the government not to take heed of this is of great concern.
Time expired.
