Ms BURNET – Premier, my questions are around Mac wharf 6 and the access road linking that.
Mr ROCKLIFF – So berth 6?
Ms BURNET – Yes, berth 6. That’s right. It seems like there is not a great deal of detail about the Macquarie Wharf upgrades, but given the proposed major works in the vicinity and competing projects, how will you prioritise this upgrade given the Antarctic gateway status is very important to Hobart and the state, and it’s worth $183 million across the whole spectrum of the economy?
Mr ROCKLIFF – Yes, it’s huge. I agree with you. This morning you would have been engaged with other committees, but we did speak briefly about berth 6 and my engagement with minister Plibersek on this issue. We had a very constructive meeting last week, which builds on the constructive meeting we had a few months ago. In fact, we had a conversation again earlier this year as well, if my memory serves me correctly. We’ve engaged three times this year, two face‑to‑face, around Macquarie berth 6. We’re not too far away from an agreement. Our state and federal officials have been working very hard on this in recent times. I look forward to finalising that, getting agreement from the federal minister. I can report that we’re both very pleased with the progress when we met the other day – when I say face‑to‑face, it was video. I was hoping she could see me, but it was video.
Ms BURNET – Have the detailed plans been produced in relation to these works?
Mr ROCKLIFF – Mr Limkin has been involved in these discussions.
Mr LIMKIN – Thank you, Premier. The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), through the Commonwealth department, provided a user brief earlier this year. Based off the user brief, TasPorts has been working through what the designs need to be to enable to fulfil the requirements of AAD.
The costings that we are negotiating with the Commonwealth on are based off the preliminary design and that user brief, and I do want to say it’s a very preliminary design. What we want to do is spend the time to work through with AAD to make sure it is fit for purpose for their new vessel. And, so, we continue with TasPorts to have those conversations. As the Premier said, we are collectively, the department and also TasPorts, committed to finalising a deal so that we can present it to government as quickly as possible with our federal colleagues so that the AAD and Hobart will continue to be the gateway to enter Antarctica.
