I want to thank the community for their swift support for such an iconic Launceston business. We led a strong community campaign to save the Boag's visitor experience, and the reaction has been heart-warming to see.
This experience not only supports jobs and creates tourism bed nights, but is a key marketing opportunity for Boag's and Tasmania, creating brand ambassadors every tour.
However, what this campaign has revealed is the long term issues that remain for businesses like Boag's. Power prices, trade waste charges and the rising cost of living are threatening the viability businesses like Boag's.
What needs to happen now is a thorough review and development of a strategic economic response to help ease the mounting and unnecessary costs that are burdening businesses like Boag's all around the state.
What this recent campaign has also revealed is that Boag's parent company, Lion, needs to do their part and start doing a better job of marketing Boag's to the rest of Australia.
This iconic brewery is not just a Tasmanian icon, it's an Australian icon, that has historically sold all across the country, and been a standout for its innovative advertising campaigns - campaigns that not only advertise the product but tell a Tasmanian tourism story.
Now is the time for the State Government to properly support Boag's, and other businesses across Tasmania, and deal with the economic pressures they have created by both their actions and their inaction - including 15 months where they repeatedly ignored concerns raised by Boag's.
The first thing they could do is deal with the soaring power prices across the state.
Michelle O'Byrne MP
Member for Bass
