It’s a long swim

from Circular Quay to Manly

Since 1855, Sydney Ferries' famous Manly Ferry made the regular 30 minute trip, day and night. Operating seven days a week, this relaxing journey has been a 'must do' for visitors with its spectacular harbour and ocean views. So, what has happened to the Manly Ferry and Sydney’s other ferries?

2 December 2022

ALAN HAYES

 

IT WAS always a joy to take a relaxing train journey from the Central Coast to Circular Quay and hop on a ferry – sometimes to Manly or other stop-offs around the harbour, not forgetting an enjoyable river cruise down the Parramatta River.

 

But it’s all gone terribly wrong! Why? Because the NSW Liberal Government thought they could save a buck and, just like the trains that were built offshore and beleaguered with problems, commissioned Asian-built ferries.

 

New South Wales was once the clever state – we built our buses, our own trains and our ferries, except for the mighty 1855 South Steyne and its sisters and brothers, who were built on the banks of the Clyde in Scotland, then braved the South Atlantic and Indian and Pacific Oceans on their way to Sydney. Now we have a situation where the Balmoral Emerald Class ferry has been taken out of service because of steering issues. It joied the Clontarf as well as the Fairlight ferry, also in drydock, because they are all unusable on Sydney's Harbour.

 

The three new catamaran ferries have been pulled from service on the busy Manly route after one suffered a steering failure and stopped within the intended path of a large cruise ship.

 

The incident involving the Fairlight comes a day after another of the second-generation Emerald-class ferries, the Clontarf, had a steering failure, causing major delays to Manly passenger services.

 

The Fairlight experienced the steering failure near Fort Denison as it sailed from Manly to Circular Quay, resulting in it stopping in the path of the Coral Princess, which was departing Sydney Harbour, according to reliable sources. A tug was also escorting the cruise ship.

 

The latest incidents come just five months after independent inspectors found a deformed plate and other defects near the front of the Fairlight.

 

The ferry incidents are nothing new to the Perrottet Government, which has suffered repeated debacles from critical transport infrastructure being continually sourced and built primarily overseas. And while the Perrottet Government might believe they’re saving a dollar, overseas-built transport has not provided any ‘bang for taxpayer’s bucks’! Why? Because the 'overseas junk’ isn’t built to work to Sydney's conditions - whether it's the bus network, whether it's heavy rail, whether it's trams, whether it's trains, or Sydney's ferries, the government now has an unescapable mess from the procurement of overseas transport infrastructure.

 

Of the top six transport pieces of infrastructure that have been sourced and built offshore, there have been budget blowouts of between 40 per cent and 50 per cent for each of them. In many cases, when they arrive in Australia, they're not working at all. And worst of all, New South Wales is missing out on the good and well-paid domestic manufacturing jobs.

 

The Perrottet Government has said that “when it comes to ferries or trains or trams or buses that you get value for money if you do these bids offshore” and as a result, you can have more of the fleet with less of the cost. But the end result of the budget blowouts is that nearly every single one of these transport transactions has meant that NSW taxpayers’ have been unnecessarily fleeced.

 

Taxpayers’ don't want a compromised transport fleet, they want it built in New South Wales.

 

Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia all of the other jurisdictions in Australia, have made the decision to back Australian made and to buy Australian made. Overseas-built transport infrastructure has not worked for NSW taxpayers and has turned out to be an abysmal failure. Yet Dominic Perrottet refuses to accept and acknowledge that the State needs a new direction. He is the last man standing to support overseas procured transport infrastructure, when we should be building it right here in New South Wales. Yet he still expects your vote next March!