Ever since the Gray Government got us into socialism on the high seas with the new TT-Line ferry service in 1984, TT-Line minsters have dined out on the razzle-dazzle of publicly owned passenger vessels.

We got the first one, the Abel Tasman, for free with a $26 million gift from the Hawke Government, although the maritime union used its muscle to force the state government to build a $4 million penthouse for the crew on the stern.

I remember a very proud Transport Minister Roger Groom who gave local media a sneak peak of the Abel Tasman when she docked at Burnie on the maiden voyage from Germany.

In 1996 Prime Minister Paul Keating wanted to gift us another vessel, with a $40 million handout, but John Howard won the election with a promise of an annual passenger equalisation subsidy.

And, in 1998, after I wrote a piece on his treatment of the Bass Strait service Premier Jim Bacon button-holed me in the street and with colourful language, leaked the Cabinet decision to buy two new ferries for a round-the-clock crossing on Bass Strait.

They've done it with pizzazz. Not every government gets to run a highly-subsidised mini-cruise line, but something's gone awry with the current government.

In 2017 the TT-Line signed a deal with a German ship builder to build two replacement vessels, but the builder struck hard times and TT-Line prudently pulled out.

The TT-Line board turned to a Finnish builder but days away from sealing the deal the government withdrew support as it could, being the only shareholder.

Ahead of the 2018 election Premier Will Hodgman was backing the Finnish deal, saying the purpose-built vessels would be 30 per cent larger than the current vessels, with around 40 per cent increased capacity for freight and passengers, and this would meet an expected increase in demand.

The Finnish deal would have provided the first of two replacement vessels in 2022, around the time of the next state election.

Hodgman said the two ships would be delivered two years ahead of schedule, and emphatically noted that: "There are no shipbuilders in Australia with the capacity to build the new steel boats."

Something changed.

Over two Budgets, from 2016, the Government took $80 million from TT-Line for the kitty to help pay for the replacements, set to cost up to $850 million.

Last year the government contributed $218 million towards the replacement kitty.

But then mysteriously Scott Morrison got in Peter Gutwein's ear, and suddenly the Finnish deal was off.

The cost of the replacement ferries has jumped around between $600 million and $850 million.

This is a big mother sucker of a project.

The state opposition commissioned respected economist Saul Eslake to investigate the mystery and he made some interesting conclusions.

According to Eslake, a delay in the replacements to 2028 will cost the state about $350 million a year in forgone extra capacity

A joint state and federal investigation will explore the local construction options, but as Eslake says, the only shipbuilder with sufficient skills and capacity is based in Western Australia and even then the hulls and engineering would still have to be done overseas.

And, why should Tasmanian taxpayers bankroll a company in another state, which coincidentally believes Tasmania gets too much GST?

Hopefully the sudden Morrison intervention has a silver lining in store for Tasmania but it's hard to guess, unless the feds are going to assist Tasmania with the funding.

Still they're assisting Tasmania with $150 million for the Marinus energy cable link, but it's a drop in the ocean of a $3.5 billion project, and more symbolic than useful.

Remember the federal promise of $400 million for Will Hodgman's dual carriageway between Launceston and Hobart.

The Libs dumped this signature policy after winning government in 2014 and instead engaged in albeit impressive, but patchwork passing lanes.

It's the way with our tiny stature in the federation.

When Bob Hawke gave us the $26 million to start TT-Line it was in return for the federal government withdrawing Australian National Line, (ANL), from a Bass Strait passenger service, and which was running at a loss of $2.5 million a year. So Hawke recouped his gift within 10 years.

The $273 million Bob Hawke paid Tasmania in Franklin dam compensation was recouped over 10 years as the feds repeatedly slashed our annual financial assistance grants.

There's no such thing as a free lunch, or a free passenger ferry.

Incidentally, and ironically, if the replacement vessels are delayed till later this decade it is most likely, that the TT-Line minister officiating at the handover ceremony, will be representing a state Labor government.