A government-commissioned
review has rejected Garden
Island as a base for cruise ships
and instead recommended
Mosman and Botany Bay.
A MAJOR inquiry into Australia’s cruising
future has concluded that Sydney’s naval base
is “essentially incompatible” with the cruise
industry as a long-term berthing option for
ships that cannot fit under the Harbour Bridge.
However, it has suggested Navy vessels
could be moved to a new wharf on the other
side of Garden Island, which would allow cruise
ships to dock at the existing naval wharves.
The review, by former Defence Department
Secretary Allan Hawke, commissioned last year
by Defence Minister Stephen Smith, noted that
the Royal Australian Navy’s needs and “national
security” were more important than extending
megaliners’ access to Garden Island.
Releasing the report, known as the Hawke
Review, on Friday, Smith said that national
security “should not be surrendered to the
seasonal commercial requirements of the
cruise ship industry”.
Dr Hawke offered five alternative locations,
including a deepwater mooring at Athol Bay,
Mosman and adjacent to the Overseas
Passenger Terminal, and the cargo terminal in
Botany Bay.
He said that another option was to
construct a new naval wharf on the east side
of Garden Island, but this would require
significant government funding.
Carnival Australia was the first to express its
disappointment at the review, which CEO Ann
Sherry had hoped would support the shared
use of Garden Island.
“The report’s option of a new mooring off
Mosman isn’t a solution and is no better than
the current situation where international
travellers’ first experience of Sydney is a ride
to shore in a lifeboat,” she said.
Sherry warned that cruise companies would
ditch Australia as a destination and look to
other Asia-Pacific countries.
“Singapore and other major world cities
have embraced cruising and have built stateof-
the-art facilities to make the most of the
economic opportunity,” she said.
Chairman of the International Cruise Council
of Australia, Gavin Smith, told Cruise Weekly
he was “considering the report and
determining the implications” for the industry.
Suburbs proposed for Sydney berths
“The cruise industry will also continue to work
with the NSW Government to determine the
best possible means of managing our needs in
Sydney given our continued growth,” he said.
The Government will now consider the
Hawke Review’s recommendations alongside
a Defence Force review which will be released
at the end of the month as part of the 2014
Defence White Paper.
