Michael Ferguson says TasPorts workplace culture has improved

Labor treasurer spokesperson Shane Broad called on the Infrastructure and Transport Minister Michael Ferguson to explain the staff turnover at TasPorts.

"In 2021-22 and the current year to date, there have been 20 redundancies and 39 resignations."

Dr Broad noted that TasPort states on its website that it "is a dynamic and progressive organisation".

"The only issue with that is that 20 per cent of the workforce has left over the past two years.

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"Are there issues with organisation culture, is the organisation restructuring and hasn't made that public?

"It's time for the Minister to come clean and explain."

In response to Dr Broad's concerns, Mr Ferguson said the culture at TasPorts had improved.

"The culture at TasPorts is now much more positive and strong after a necessary period of change where work was undertaken to create a more contemporary business framework to make it more sustainable into the future.

"TasPorts has stated publicly on a number of occasions over the years that this change was required."

Mr Ferguson said the culture shift was evident during the Government Business Scrutiny Committee hearings over the last few years.

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"During 2020 GBE Scrutiny, the TasPorts CEO spoke about the changes underway and explained the committee could expect over coming years there would be a further reduction in headcount.

"During 2022 GBE Scrutiny, the CEO addressed the change that has happened and how TasPorts was now very much positioned for ongoing financial sustainability and growth.

"As usual, Labor has nothing to offer except negativity and game playing as well as no alternative vision for Tasmania's future.

"If we took our lead from Dr Broad, TasPorts would not be functioning so well."

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During the 2022 GBE Scrutiny on December 1, TasPorts CEO Anthony Donald said the workplace culture at the organisation was much better.

"I'm three years into my role as CEO.

"Our immediate focus in my first few years was to establish a positive culture.

"It's widely understood that the culture required some attention.

"I made some very clear public statements about the fact that TasPorts needed to change."

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