Still dealing with the fallout of the bungled Spirit of Tasmania replacement project, the premier has announced it is pursuing sweeping reforms to government businesses, including a merger of 3 major assets. Despite widespread support for a shakeup, plans to bring Tasrail, Tasports and TT-Line under one roof is yet to convince everyone.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00With the Spirit Saga still large in the rearview mirror, Jeremy Rockliffe's unveiled a plan.
00:08To ensure that what happened with the Spirits will never happen again.
00:12The package, to overhaul government business enterprises, is headlined by a proposed merger
00:18of transport and logistics businesses, TT Line, TASports and TAS Rail.
00:23But it also includes bolstering oversight and disclosure requirements, setting board
00:28term limits and a target for them to be 50% Tasmanian.
00:33It will deliver a growing economy, improved transparency and accountability across all
00:40our government business enterprises.
00:42We look forward to being able to submit our input to the requests for consultation and
00:49we're hoping for a great outcome.
00:51Parts of the public trustee are already up for sale.
00:55The government's also exploring more privatisation, but has ruled out doing it to Hydro or its
01:01new mega-GBE.
01:02The opposition, who's been calling for a GBE shake-up once the new governance rules fast-tracked.
01:08We need to get moving on this.
01:10The governance reforms now have the support of Labor and the government and so we should
01:14get to work and legislate them.
01:16But the merger has been met with scepticism.
01:19I think there are significant and serious risks involved.
01:22This is an issue of governance and accountability, not so much about corporate structure.
01:27If supported, the raft of changes will occur in two phases.
01:31The first being the governance reforms.
01:34Consultation on those closes on December 13.
01:36The second is the transport and logistics merger.
01:39Discussions around that are expected to take between four to six months, with legislation
01:44to follow.