Six months after the TasPorts CEO desk was vacated at a cost of hundreds of thousands to Tasmanian taxpayers, the Hodgman Liberal Government has finally gotten around to looking for a replacement.
Shadow Infrastructure Minister David O’Byrne said it had taken media reporting in the past week to prompt the government to get around to advertising for a new CEO this weekend.
“It’s six months after the sacking of the previous long term CEO which came with a significant golden handshake that taxpayers footed the bill for,” Mr O’Byrne said.
“The Minister for Infrastructure Jeremy Rockliff made commitments to act on this promptly months ago amid significant concerns raised about the operations of TasPorts.
“There have been reports of high staff turnover combined with numerous breaches of the Marine and Safety Tasmania (MAST) Deed of Operation, the most significant accountability measure of the safe operation of our ports.
“The most significant breach occurred late last year with the failure of TasPorts to provide Bell Bay Port with piloting services for 72 hours, a situation that delayed shipping by 12 hours.
“It’s only reports this past week of the dysfunction which have now clearly prompted Mr Rockliff to act on this vitally important role.
“The Minister can no longer shrug his shoulders and defer the dysfunction within TasPorts as being merely an operational matter.
“As an island state our economy and thousands of jobs depend on the Ports. Dysfunction cannot continue.
“Mr Rockliff needs to tell Tasmanians today – what is he doing to ensure everything is under control?”
David O’Byrne MP
Shadow Minister for Infrastructure
