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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