The Hodgman Liberal Government is working to create a better business environment in Tasmania to attract investment and create jobs.
Our international shipping plan was designed to give Tasmanian exporters better access to vital overseas markets at a time when international shipping from Tasmania had ceased entirely.
When we were elected, we began discussions with international shipping businesses interested in providing a service to Tasmania. In late 2014, the Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Swire Shipping confirming they were the preferred operator with which to explore an international shipping solution.
As was agreed with Swire as part of the MoU, the Government and Swire both reserved the right to take into account any changes implemented by the Federal Government regarding the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme (TFES).
Obviously, the recent decision by the Federal Government to inject an additional $203 million into the TFES will have a substantial impact on freight equalisation and the cost of exporting freight from Tasmania.
As such, given this materially different strategic context, it was not possible to reach an agreement with Swire under the terms of the MoU and given the MoU has now expired, these negotiations with Swire have concluded.
Swire Shipping has a long history providing shipping services in the Australasian region since 1883, and we have welcomed the opportunity to work with such a professional company during the period of negotiations under the MoU.
While it was not ultimately possible to reach an agreement with Swire in light of the Federal Government’s TFES announcement, we believe there may be future opportunities for Swire as the changes to the TFES are implemented and further changes to the Federal Coastal Trading Act are considered by Federal Parliament.
The Government is committed to ensuring the $33 million allocated for a potential international shipping service is spent on job-creating infrastructure and we will detail specifically how this one-off funding will now be spent in the 2015-16 Budget when it is handed down on 28 May.