Tasmania's newest Spirit of Tasmania vessel is in the open water but infrastructure delays mean instead of sailing to Bass Strait, it's heading to Scotland, tens of thousands of kilometres away. With a deal for storing it there yet to be finalised, the ferry fiasco is set to dominate a week of parliamentary hearings putting government businesses under the microscope.
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00:00The Premier celebrating a major infrastructure milestone.
00:06Every single week there is something that changes, something different about this bridge,
00:11a bridge that is on time and on budget.
00:15But as a stark reminder of previous failings, on the other side of the world, the state's
00:20recently completed new passenger ferry is making its first long journey.
00:25With infrastructure delays meaning it's on its way to Scotland, not Tasmania.
00:29It's very clear to me that the Premier is embarrassed, he doesn't want to bring the
00:33ship here to Tasmania because it will be a billboard for his incompetence.
00:38Spirit 4 left Finland on Saturday.
00:41It's traversed the Baltic Sea, made its way under this Danish bridge and is now in the
00:46North Sea.
00:47It's due to arrive in Scotland tomorrow, but it's not clear how long it will stay or how
00:52much it will cost to store it.
00:54There's a large part of the discussions already occurred of course, but again we're waiting
00:59on the final parts of the agreement of course, and then of course everyone will be informed.
01:05It does seem very odd that there's no contract in place, yet Spirit 4 has now headed to Scotland
01:11to be berthed, to be mothballed if you like.
01:14The government's committed to big reforms of government business enterprises in the
01:18wake of the Spirit debacle.
01:21Those plans are set to dominate a week of parliamentary hearings, where state-owned
01:25companies are put under the microscope.
01:27What we've seen is some gross failures of management and failing to act.
01:33TT Line will appear on Thursday, a day after its new ship finishes its first voyage.