Bass Strait islands welcome freight scheme review

THE King Island Council, businesses and farmers have welcomed a forthcoming review of the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme.

The groups are hopeful the review will result in a reduction of all shipping costs for King Island and better shipping solutions for the future.

King Island Mayor Marcus Blackie said King Island and the Furneaux islands including Flinders Island are totally exposed to and currently subjected to sub-optimal shipping arrangements and unsustainably high freight costs for shipping (and air freight).

“Shipped items currently covered under TFES are very limited by scope and geared towards
exported finished goods,” he said.

“The ideal improvements and changes to TFES to better assist Bass Strait islands sought from a review include:

• all incoming and outgoing shipped cargo should be subjected to more equitable subsidisation under an improved TFES;

• aviation passenger and freight movement also be included within a new TFES scope given the logistic criticality of aviation for Bass Strait Islands;

• TFES calculation formulas and subsidy amounts need to be contemporised and bespoke designed for the modern shipping services currently plying Bass Strait;

• an improved TFES should also be structured to include future triangular shipping model routes Vic-KI-Tas (or Vic-FI-Tas); and

• incentives to encourage integrated solutions, optimum shipping solutions and increased economies of scale for all Tasmanian shipping requirements and not just the trunk route with TT Line.

A united effort by Mr Blackie and Flinders Island Mayor Rachel Summers at the Australian Local Government Association conference in Canberra recently resulted in the review announcement.

“The TFES review team will visit King Island in early September,” Mr Blackie said.

Among others, TasFarmers has also lobbied for a TFES review.

“TasFarmers would like to see a level playing field for all producers in Tasmania when comparing costs to the mainland,” CEO Nathan Calman said.

“We would like to see certainty for island producers and want to ensure that any incremental changes to the TFES scheme in the future are not just negated by shipping rate increases."