The federal environment minister is warning Tasmania may not remain Australia’s gateway to Antarctica. In a letter to the premier, Tanya Plibersek said costings for a planned wharf upgrade were exorbitant and unreasonable and has called on the state government to step in.
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00:00 Australia's Antarctic icebreaker calls Hobart home.
00:07 But planned upgrades to a Macquarie Point wharf aren't progressing as well as the federal
00:13 government would like, placing Tasmania's status as the Antarctic gateway under threat.
00:19 We don't want to see these jobs, these really important science jobs lost to Western Australia
00:25 or anywhere else.
00:26 The government's got to take responsibility for where we are and responsibility for getting
00:29 us out of this mess.
00:31 The concern stemming from a strongly worded letter from the Federal Environment Minister
00:35 to the Premier.
00:37 Tanya Plibersek says it seems state government agencies are determined to stand in the way
00:42 of securing the development.
00:44 And that a cost of more than $515 million over 30 years is more than 14 times what the
00:50 Commonwealth currently pays.
00:52 That it has come to this absolutely beggars belief because the dispute between the Antarctic
00:59 Division and Tasports has been going on for years.
01:05 Tasports is in charge of the development.
01:07 It says the RSV Nuyina has complex infrastructure needs which are expensive to cater for.
01:14 What I'm not prepared to do is to agree to a commercial agreement that is unsatisfactory
01:20 to Tasmania.
01:22 Clearly the commitment that was made by the Minister yesterday is to Hobart being the
01:28 Antarctic base and we will work through these matters like adults.
01:34 There's lots of political pressure on the Tasmanian government to get this right.
01:38 It's not just Hobart's status as the Antarctic gateway or science jobs on the line.
01:43 $240 million of federal government funding for the Macquarie Point precinct which will
01:48 be used to build an AFL stadium is also contingent on the wharf upgrades going ahead.
01:53 [BLANK_AUDIO]