The Minister for Infrastructure, Jeremy Rockliff, must intervene in the operations of TasPorts amid serious concerns over its ability to respond to emergencies and allegations a toxic culture has caused a mass exodus of senior management staff.
Shadow Infrastructure Minister, David O’Byrne, said TasPorts Acting Chief Executive Officer confirmed on radio today that 13 senior managers had left over the past 18 months.
“Clearly, there are serious issues within TasPorts where senior staff are leaving in their droves,” Mr O’Byrne said.
“It is also totally unacceptable that TasPorts has been without a CEO for six months and it is expected to take another six months for someone to be appointed to the role. This is despite the fact that Minister Rockliff had committed to undertake an extensive search for a replacement last September.
“It was clear that the previous CEO did not retire and was paid out his contract, which had 18 months to run, to the tune of hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars. The fact that an advertisement for the role only appeared in the Mercury a few days ago makes a mockery of the Minister’s pledge.
“On top of this, the 2018 Marine and Safety Tasmania (MAST) audit found TasPorts wasn’t ready to deal with a marine emergency and couldn’t send staff to training for an emergency as this would have left the corporation short staffed.
“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.
“The ports are a crucial piece of economic infrastructure for Tasmania. As an island state, they are our economic lifeline and all we have heard from the Minister is silence, and this is not good enough.
“TasPorts is clearly in turmoil and Jeremy Rockliff must step in to ensure the safety of workers and the public isn’t compromised and that industry has confidence in the ability to move important trade on and off our island.”
David O’Byrne MP
Shadow Minister for Roads and Infrastructure
