Key Points

A Dean Winter Labor government will have both Spirits of Tasmania back in Tasmanian waters by Christmas.

There will be no mucking around with attempting to lease either one or keeping them in Scotland at huge cost to taxpayers.

We will also take steps to make up for the Liberals mistakes and prevent a fiasco like this ever happening again.

To do this, a Dean Winter Labor government will:

• Issue a Ministerial Direction ordering TT-Line to take all necessary steps to bring both our new Spirits home to Tasmania on Day 1
• Ensure the Spirits are fitted out as soon as they come home, creating local jobs
• Mandate a dedicated seat on the TT-Line board for a Tasmanian tourism industry representative
• Run more day sailings on the existing Spirits to recover lost capacity and increase tourism revenue

Why we need it

This election is a choice between a fresh start under a Labor government, or more of the same from the Liberals.

The Rockliff minority government has made a mess of the Spirits project – but Labor is ready to clean it up.

Jeremy Rockliff knew about the berth delays at Devonport as early as April 2024 but failed to communicate this to the tourism sector for months – leaving operators to invest and plan for a boost in visitors that never came.
Tourism Tasmania found out about the delay by watching the television news.

“After 11 years of the Liberals, it's time for a fresh start for Tasmania.”

The details

On Day 1 as Tasmania’s Premier, Dean Winter will direct TT-Line to take all necessary steps to bring both our new Spirits home to Tasmania. Once they are home, Labor will ensure they are fitted out straight away, creating local jobs.

In addition, Labor reaffirms its commitment to the Tasmanian tourism sector by ensuring they are never shut out of key decisions about our Spirits again.

We will mandate a dedicated seat on the TT-Line board for a Tasmanian tourism industry representative – selected in consultation with the industry itself.

We will run more day sailings on the Spirits to recover lost capacity, increase tourism revenue, and bring tens of thousands more self-driving visitors to our state next summer.

And we will issue a Ministerial Direction to TT-Line to secure LNG refuelling at Devonport and commit to running the Spirits on LNG. The necessary space at the port has already been reserved, and a long-term supply agreement will give operators the confidence to invest.