SCOTT BACON Opposition Spokesman for Tourism and Hospitality Opposition Report
The Taste of Tasmania has a very bright future.
It’s a popular, family-friendly event in a great location in the best small city in the world. The infrastructure around the Taste has been continually improved with more seating than ever and excellent use of both sides of the shed. Labor does not buy into the idea that the Taste needs a massive overhaul or that it needs to be taken away from the Hobart City Council. The Council has a strong track record of running safe, successful events. Labor does however want to see the Taste go to the next level and be a true showcase of Tasmania’s best produce. We’d like to see the barriers to entry removed for small producers, especially from regional Tasmania, who would like to sell their wares at the Taste for the first time. The Council is working on having more shared spaces at next year’s event and Labor believes it’s the perfect opportunity for the state government to become involved. A Labor government would cover the site hire and infrastructure costs for a large, shared space to encourage new players at the Taste. A shared space could allow small, regional producers to put up just one or two dishes, instead of having the daunting task of running a stall themselves. Our plan to cover the initial costs would give the group of producers greater flexibility in what they offered the public. By aiming the initiative at businesses that hadn’t been to the Taste before, it would lead to a fresh batch of stallholders at the event each year.
It would also hopefully give them confidence to come back on their own the following year. There’s been an emergence of brilliant, small producers from regional Tasmania in the last few years and we want to see as many as possible make it to Hobart for the Taste. It’s at events like the Taste where producers have chance encounters with influential people from around the world. One conversation can lead to a fruitful relationship for years to come. One local brewer told us that while the rain put the brakes on their ability to turn a big profit this year, the experience was more than worthwhile because the stall attracted the attention of an interstate buyer. We need to find ways for as many Tasmanian businesses as possible to gain this sort of exposure. The Taste attracts around 250,000 visitors every year, from all over the world. We should never lose sight of how impressive that is for a week-long food festival in a city the size of Hobart. It is far too important for Tasmania and our economy for it to be caught up in a political storm. The debate over the festival’s future is important because everyone wants to see it improve but the discussion needs to be constructive. We need to share ideas to grow the event, not point the finger and attribute blame for political purposes. Labor stands ready to work with the Hobart City Council, both from opposition and government, to secure the future of the Taste for decades to come.
February 2017
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