Not content with one weekend of wasting tens of thousands of dollars of Tasmanian taxpayer money on deceptive double-page advertising spreads in an attempt to clean up their Spirits mess, the Liberals have doubled down

The first round of these ads was panned by Tasmanians because they were packed with highly questionable claims such as that the ships wouldn’t be second-hand even after being leased, and that infrastructure at Devonport was being “fast tracked”.

The Spirits replacement project has been bungled so badly that it’s receiving media coverage across the world, becoming a source of international embarrassment for the Rockliff minority government.

Given the coverage the stuff-up has received, Tasmanians don’t need to be fed dubious spin by the government, and they certainly don’t need to pay for the privilege.

The Spirits fiasco has cost Tasmanians hundreds of millions of dollars already, with $50,000 being added to the bill each week while the ships are indefinitely mothballed in Scotland.

Earlier this week, the Premier told Tasmanians he would provide details about exactly how much taxpayer money his government was wasting on these deceptive ads.

Now he’s doubled down, he needs to come clean on the costs today.

Josh Willie MP
Shadow Treasurer