Wednesday 22 June 2005

SPIRIT OF TASMANIA III - PASSENGER NUMBERS

Mr FINCH (Question) - Mr President, I have a couple of questions to the Leader about the TT-Line. Of the 21 per cent of passengers who arrived in Tasmania by sea during the last 12 months, what percentage of those arrived on the Spirit of Tasmania III? During the last 12 months, how many Tasmanians sailed on the Spirit of Tasmania III from Devonport to Sydney?

Mr AIRD - I thank the honourable member for his question. As you can see, there is a bit of cut-and-paste here. In answer to the first part of the question, 13.8 per cent of arrivals by sea over the past 12 months arrived on Spirit of Tasmania III, or 2.9 per cent of the 21 per cent of the passengers arriving in Tasmania arrived on Spirit of Tasmania III. Does that make sense?

Mr Finch - That makes sense, yes.

Mr AIRD - The other part of the question was, if I remember correctly, how many Tasmanians during the last 12 months sailed on the Spirit of Tasmania III from Devonport to Sydney; 9 597 Tasmanians sailed on the Spirit of Tasmania III from Devonport to Sydney. This does not include Tasmanians travelling from Sydney to Devonport, obviously. Did we get there?

Mr Finch - Yes, thank you. There is something to work on.
Mr AIRD - Is that a threat?

Members laughing.