JO HAYLEN MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT
MEMBER FOR SUMMER HILL

The NSW Government has announced a major review of its defect ridden crisis prone overseas built Emerald Class Manly ferries just a day after NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet claimed there were no problems with the vessels.

Yesterday, on Wednesday, May 25, Mr Perrottet claimed the vessels were, “world class ferries that are much, much better and advanced than the ones they replaced.”

He went on to say that, “while there will always be difficulties, they aren’t substantive, they are minor.”

However, the overseas built Emerald Class ferries have been plagued by defects for months, with new defects being discovered on an increasingly regular basis.

In the last two weeks alone:

• The ‘Balmoral’ suffered a major steering failure.
• The ‘Clontarf’ was docked three times in a week after it’s lubricating oil system cracked and caused hot oil to spray around the engine room, triggering the vessel’s fire alarms. The vessel underwent repairs but a similar incident occurred the day after and then cracks were found in the vessel’s fuel tanks.
• The ‘Fairlight’ has been repeatedly docked because of multiple cracks found in the vessel’s fuel tanks.

Shadow Minister for Transport Jo Haylen said:

“What planet is the Premier on? These overseas built ferries are riddled with defects and new ones have been discovered just in the last fortnight. These ferries aren’t world class, they are junk and passengers are faced with cancellations and delays because they simply aren’t up to the job.

“These aren’t minor difficulties, they are clearly deep systemic issues, and they occurred on the Liberal party’s watch. The Premier clearly doesn’t understand how serious the problems with these ferries are, and he doesn’t get that his Government’s transport procurement policies have completely failed.

“Building transport infrastructure overseas means the taxpayer doesn’t get value for money, and that passengers get a bad product. It’s time we learnt the lessons from the Government’s failures and start building our trains, trams, buses and ferries in Australia again.”