Treasurer Michael Ferguson owes Tasmanians a full explanation after being caught misleading Parliament over a secret, multi-million dollar payment to a Finnish shipbuilder.

In April 2022, Michael Ferguson agreed to pay nearly $13 million of taxpayer money to the Finnish company building the new Spirit of Tasmania ships, despite a fixed-price contract being in place.

Not only did the Treasurer fail to disclose the payment publicly, six months later he repeatedly told a Parliamentary committee that the price of the new ships had not changed. He knew full well it had.

The Treasurer secretly gave $13 million to a Finnish shipbuilder, and then lied to Parliament to cover it up. He needs to explain himself immediately.

But this sorry saga doesn’t end there – TT-Line also has questions to answer.

The CEO told the same Parliamentary committee that the price of the ships “will not have changed from last year to this year”, when it had.

After years of delays and nearly $100 million of secret payments being gradually exposed, Tasmanians deserve answers.

Josh Willie MP
Shadow Treasurer