1 This transcript is taken from a digital recording. The Parliamentary Library cannot guarantee freedom from errors, misunderstandings or omissions.

TASMANIAN PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARY MT067-16

MEDIA MONITORING TRANSCRIPT

PROGRAM: ABC STATEWIDE – 9.45 AM

DATE: 5 OCTOBER 2016

TITLE: THOUSAND LAKES LODGE

PRESENTER: LEON COMPTON

SPEAKER: MARCOS AMBROSE (Tourism Operator)

TYPED BY: SK CHECKED BY: SR ______COMPTON: On a very bleak Saturday in mid August, I was up having a poke around central and bumped into Marcus Ambrose’s new venture in the Central Highlands, and I am told that it is up and ready to go. We thought that in the lead up to tourism season we’d track around Tasmania over the next week or two and talk with tourism operators, not just about what they are doing personally, but about how things are looking in their region. We thought we’d start in the heart of Tasmania this morning. Marcus Ambrose, good morning to you.

AMBROSE: Yes, good morning. Thanks for having me on your show.

COMPTON: Nice to talk to you Marcus. Look, a couple of – well, actually, almost a month and a half ago now – I was near your new venture in the Central Highlands. There was still scaffolding up hanging on tenaciously on the outside 2 This transcript is taken from a digital recording. The Parliamentary Library cannot guarantee freedom from errors, misunderstandings or omissions. on what was a pretty bleak Saturday. Are you ready to open and go?

AMBROSE: Yes, we are actually open. We opened last weekend, it was our first weekend where we accepted guests. It was a ripping success. You know, it’s been a rapid repurposing and rebuilding of the old Antarctic training building up in the middle of the World Heritage area there, and within nine months we have been able to turn it into an operating business. So, we are really excited about the opening weekend last weekend and just moving forward very rapidly, and we are excited about what we have delivered and excited for Tasmanians and visitors to Tasmania to enjoy it.

COMPTON: We wanted to spend some time talking about Central Tasmania this morning and the opportunities there. Marcus, you couldn’t have chosen a more remote or bleaker place to invest in Central Tassie, certainly when I was there. What did you see as the possible market for a place that’s, as you say, offering accommodation and a means of providing people to come visit and stay?

AMBROSE: Well certainly, August is probably not the best month to be up there. It’s one of the highest parts of Tasmania. We are only a couple of hundred metres off the highest point, being , which you can almost see from our place. But we are located right in the middle of what’s described to me as the world’s best still-water fishing. The wild stocks of brown trout, rainbows, up in 3 This transcript is taken from a digital recording. The Parliamentary Library cannot guarantee freedom from errors, misunderstandings or omissions. that part of Tasmania are some of the best in the world, and people travel from all around the world to come and visit the fishing regions, and really the walking as well, there’s a lot of walking up on the alpine flats of Tasmania. And our access point is actually the original access point to the Walls of Jerusalem, so we feel that walkers, fishermen, and just general visitors to Tasmania, and Tasmanians looking to get away into the wilderness, with some luxury, they are the target markets for us.

COMPTON: In your mind, where will those people come from? Will they be visitors from interstate, overseas, or will you be drawing on locals to come to central Tasmania?

AMBROSE: Yes. So, we are a brand new development and brand new business, and it’s been interesting to see the people that have already booked – and we had a full house on the weekend, they were all Tasmanians, all looking to get away and just to see a different part of Tasmania - but we have seen some flow already from interstate and overseas visitors pre-booking, so we’re really excited because we feel like we can really satisfy the needs of the locals as well as visitors looking for something a bit different and trying to get up into the World Heritage area, which is very hard to do, and have quality accommodation and convenient access, and that’s what we’ve tried to do with this building.

COMPTON: Marcus, if you were trying to find staff in , you would be really scratching. How are you going actually finding people to work in your part of Tasmania? 4 This transcript is taken from a digital recording. The Parliamentary Library cannot guarantee freedom from errors, misunderstandings or omissions.

AMBROSE: So our area is one the most - highest unemployment rates in the state, and we have been inundated with interest for people to come and try and work for us. So I think there’s a real demand for jobs in this area. We are really pleased and proud that we’re going to provide jobs in that region that desperately needs it. So it’s a win–win for us. We’ve had a lot of interest. People trying to come and work for us. And the area really needs it. So it’s been a good news story on the job front. We are going to provide at least eight full-time equivalent jobs in the operation of our building, once we get it fully operational. And don’t forget, too, that once you build something like this that the flow-on effects are significant - guides, casual staff, other developments that may pop up in the region because of our success story.

COMPTON: How much of the enthusiasm that you’re feeling are you seeing more broadly around sort of and in the communities that are adjacent to the track where you pop out, if you - or pop on, to get into your place?

AMBROSE: We are a brand new product, and we need to create our own market, because no one has done this before in this area of Tasmania in the boutique style that we are. There are only nine rooms, so we are boutique. We are not where you have 40 or 50 room hotels. It’s very much a boutique experience and a very one-on-one experience with the host that manages the site. But there is definitely a pickup in demand for high quality tourism destinations in World Heritage or wilderness areas of 5 This transcript is taken from a digital recording. The Parliamentary Library cannot guarantee freedom from errors, misunderstandings or omissions.

Tasmania, and our development has been outside the EOI [Expression of Interest] processes currently going on with people trying to do developments inside World Heritage zones, because our building was already there, but repurposed old infrastructure converted into something contemporary and modern for modern Tasmanians. For Tasmanians and for visitors to Tasmania alike. So it’s a really exciting story, and I am really proud to be part of it.

COMPTON: Are you an investor, Marcos? Are you also going to be working on the site?

AMBROSE: Yes, I am the largest investor in it. I am one of a group. The group is less than 10, but I am certainly the largest. And I have also led the development. So I went through all the approvals process. We’ve worked very closely with Hydro Tasmania and Parks and Wildlife Service and State Growth. We’ve been successful in achieving a federal grant to help us build it to the level that we want it to, so it’s been a great experience for me personally being project manager. I am also the largest shareholder, and I am also assisting in the operation of it, too, so it’s been a real transition for me from professional race car driver in America to tourism operator in Tassie. But, if you want to put your money to work in Tasmania, tourism, for me anyway, was the way to go. It supports over 16 per cent of jobs in Tasmania, it inputs over $2.3 billion into the economy, and it’s the largest sector of our economic engine. So there’s a lot going for tourism in Tasmania right now, especially this premium accommodation in the 6 This transcript is taken from a digital recording. The Parliamentary Library cannot guarantee freedom from errors, misunderstandings or omissions. wilderness, and there is a pent up demand for it, there’s no doubt about it. If Tasmania wants to promote wilderness, we had to provide access and infrastructure to support that, so that’s what I have chosen to do and be part of.

COMPTON: It’s interesting. I was just thinking to myself, I wonder how many NASCAR fans who know you from there will be making their way over to catch up and do some fishing at the same time. I actually don’t mind NASCAR. I was sitting on the banks when you were racing in New Hampshire a couple of years ago. It wasn’t your finest hour on the track. You weren’t screaming around in first place that day, but it was an amazing experience to actually watch a NASCAR race and watch you up close and be able to tune into the headset and actually listen to the relationship between you and your pit crew and so on.

AMBROSE: That’s an amazing story. And you probably picked the worst track to come to watch because that was my bogey track throughout the entire north of America. The track alone was a tough one for me personally. But I am a proud Tasmanian. I have certainly seen a lot of America in the nine-and-a-half years that I was over there on a professional racing circuit. I met a lot of Americans who loved , loved Tasmania, and had no idea where it was or how to get there. So hopefully, we can play our part in promoting what is great about our state and providing some infrastructure to help them come down and see it.

COMPTON: Can you actually fish, Marcos? How good are you at fishing? Do you know what you’re doing? 7 This transcript is taken from a digital recording. The Parliamentary Library cannot guarantee freedom from errors, misunderstandings or omissions.

AMBROSE: I’m not a great fisherman. I’m a worm kind of man. You know, I’ll throw a worm out, but I’m not a great fly fisherman, but I’m looking forward to getting better at it, and I’m certainly in the right area to do that. The Nineteen Lagoons, Thousand Lakes area that our lodge is part of is regarded as the world’s best still–water fishery where fly fisherman and polaroiding where the fish can be seen with polaroid glasses, where you actually target the fish when you see them trawling the edges, apparently, that’s the ultimate in fly fishing, and I’m looking forward to learning how to do it.

COMPTON: Look, I am also told – we were standing there, and it was blowing a gale, and still trying to cast off the bridge, which wasn’t working particularly well. But I am told that when it warms up you would also do a tournament level in tiger snakes up in that area, so good luck with those. I am told that they do like to frolic in that neck of the woods.

AMBROSE: Well, they certainly do. And the alpine of Tasmania on a blue sky day is just quite an amazing experience from the fauna and flora wildlife, you know, the fishing, the walking, it’s an incredible place. And it’s a real backyard for Tasmanians. And not that many people know about it up there. It’s been difficult to access it at times with a rough road and no accommodation like we are providing. So we are hoping to provide an easier launch pad so, if it is a filthy day, you can just sit back by the 8 This transcript is taken from a digital recording. The Parliamentary Library cannot guarantee freedom from errors, misunderstandings or omissions. fire and drink your glass of wine or a whisky. And, if it’s a beautiful day, you are out there amongst it.

COMPTON: Good to talk to this morning. Central Tasmania and one of the people who have invested there and the tourism season and the tourism market that our guest is thinking about with a project and investment that’s just opened up there in the past seven days.

END