Senate told Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme no longer working

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Some say Bass Strait is the most expensive piece of water in the world to ship goods across. The Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme was set up to provide financial help to shippers. It’s been under the microscope recently from a senate inquiry.

Transcript

00:00Tasmania is surrounded by water.

00:05Like many islands, it's expensive to ship things on and off.

00:09You could say that's just the cost of doing business in a remote place.

00:13But in the 1970s, the Whitlam government introduced something called the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation

00:19Scheme.

00:20It ensured that Tassie businesses were paying the same amount to ship goods over the Bass

00:25Strait compared to driving them along a mainland highway.

00:31By all reports, the scheme worked well for a while.

00:34But over the years, farmers say it got clunkier and didn't keep up with true costs.

00:40Take this platter of Tasmanian goods you might get at a Melbourne restaurant.

00:45To send this wine via Australia Post, it'll cost either the winemaker or the customer

00:50an extra 35-70% on shipping fees.

00:54To get an apple from the Apple Isle, it's an extra 70 cents a kilo.

00:58And as for this cheese, well unless the restaurant's willing to pay a minimum shipping fee of $247,

01:05they're probably not going to stock it.

01:06None of these costs are even close to being covered by the federal scheme.

01:10But that could change when later this month the Senate releases its report into the issue.

01:15In the meantime, you might just have to come to Tasmania and try the food yourself.

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