Tasmania has a fight on its hands to have the HMAS Tobruk scuttled near St Helens, with the new federal Assistant Tourism Minister a strong advocate for the retired navy vessel to be scuttled at Hervey Bay.
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Nationals MP Keith Pitt, appointed Assistant Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s reshuffle on Monday, has been advocating for HMAS Tobruk to be scuttled in southern Queensland since his election in 2013.
Tasmania state and federal MPs have been fighting for the ship to be scuttled at Skeleton Bay, with the main opposition posed by Hervey Bay.
Mr Pitt’s electorate of Hinkler takes in 3500 kilometres of coastal Queensland, including population centres Hervey Bay and Bundaberg.
Tourism Industry Council Tasmania chief executive Luke Martin said the chances of Tasmania being gifted the vessel as a special project “don’t look good”.
“The federal government haven’t given us any positive indications at any stage and if they were going to gift it to the East Coast they would have done it during the election campaign,” he said.
“It’s not helped by the fact that the new federal minister is also an advocate for it being scuttled elsewhere.”
Tasmanian Liberal Senator David Bushby said he was fighting extremely hard to ensure HMAS Tobruk found its way to Tasmania.
“Tasmania is the only state without a navy dive wreck and on that basis is deserving of one,” he said.
Tasmanian Treasurer Peter Gutwein said Premier Will Hodgman had made numerous representations about the project to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Defence Minister Marise Payne.
“We strongly support the Tobruk coming to Tasmania however it needs to be on the basis of no cost to the State Government as a result of the recent $500 million write down in our GST which means we simply cannot afford the $10 million decommissioning and scuttling cost,” Mr Gutwein said.
Mr Martin said he would continue to advocate for Tasmania to be gifted a navy dive wreck, but agreed the state government couldn’t justify paying for the project.
“I can give a list of 50 things the state government should spend $10 million on before the Tobruk,” he said.
Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten pledged Labor would spend $10 million on scuttling the ship on the East Coast as part of a $44 million tourism package during the election campaign.
Earlier this month Tobruk Skeleton Bay project manager Peter Paulsen told Fairfax Tasmania the group needed further support from the state government to submit a detailed application to acquire the ship by the July 31 deadline.
