Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Tourism and International Education) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, tonight is in fact one of the more famous events that occurs in Parliament House, Flavours of Tasmania, which is organised by our good Tasmanian friend and colleague Senator Abetz. He needs to take great credit for the initiative of pulling the team together and delivering such a brilliant program that will be held in the great hall tonight. I am certain that people will enjoy that.

Tasmania's fine food and beverage is indeed a key element in our state's tourism offering. It is one of the things that makes our great state famous and it is one of the things that brings people back to Tasmania again and again. Tonight in the great hall we will see a number of those people display their fine goods and wares. We will have people like Providence Vineyards, Pipers Brook, Sullivans Cove single malt whisky—which is a winner of the best single malt whisky in the world—Parkwood Whisky, Lark Distillery and Tas Prime Oysters.

At the recent National Tourism Awards, to build on the strength of the Tasmanian tourism industry, we saw Tasmania win 10 of the 29 tourism awards that were awarded at that event recently. And Lonely Planet named Tasmania as its fourth hottest destination in the world for 2015.