Labor briefs newspapers that they will “pull the plug” on Marinus, including the Shadow Energy Minister saying investing in Marinus is “throwing good money after bad.”

• 7.30am Monday: Labor issues a media release stating that they will “get Tasmania off the hook for the Marinus Bill”.

• Mr Winter repeats his statement that “There’s no point throwing good money after bad, at a project where more than 90 per cent of the benefit flows to the mainland.”

• Mr Winter admits in his media conference that Labor actually “won’t be ripping up any contracts” and claims they remain committed to Marinus, as it is.

• Federal Labor confirms in Senate Question Time that the option to sell Marinus can only be exercised after it is fully commissioned – that’s likely to be five years away

• Mr Winter bizarrely claims that despite calling the Tasmanian Government’s $117 million investment “throwing good money after bad”, Tasmania’s share of Marinus will somehow be worth more than half a billion in five years when Labor sell it. So that’s a 500 per cent increase on a “bad” investment.

• Mr Winter indicates that he will now use this imaginary and unrealised money, gained from the “bad” investment he says he opposes but will actually support, to invest in various other energy projects.

Talk about a magic money tree. It really is extraordinary that anyone takes Mr Winter seriously.