A ‘Save Manly Ferries’ campaign officially launched this week in a local-led push to stop government plans to scrap the Freshwater class and replace it with a much smaller albeit efficient model called the Emerald class.
Community pressure and campaigning from Manly MP James Griffin saw a recent decision to retain one of the iconic vessels, but campaigners, including the Maritime Union, say the compromise is unworkable and the full fleet of four should be retained.
While Manly Observer leans heavily in favour of keeping the larger vessels, we will examine all of the arguments on both sides over coming weeks.
Northern Beaches Deputy Mayor Candy Bingham, who is spearheading the local push to retain the ferries, has marked the campaign launch with the above video, where in she asks selected passengers what the large ferries mean to them.
She has urged those wanting to save more than one of the vessels to sign the petition to parliament here.
You can view the Save Manly Ferries take on the matter here.
You can view the Liberal Government’s take on the matter here.
