‘Wonka’ premier pledges chocolate fountain
THE Tasmanian premier has channelled his inner Willy Wonka by promising to build the world’s largest chocolate fountain if voters re-elect him.
During a visit to the Cadbury chocolate factory in Hobart yesterday, Jeremy Rockliff said that if his Liberal government is re-elected he would create a new “chocolate experience” which would be “the greatest thing to happen to tourism since Mona [The Museum of Old and New Art]”.
It comes after Mr Rockliff called an early election – scheduled for March 23 – after governing in minority since May 2023 and failing to resolve a standoff with two crossbench independents.
The politician pledged that his “chocolate experience” would include a chocolate fountain, a premium chocolate studio, a chocolate laboratory with a make-your-own chocolate bar, a chocolate emporium, a café, a playground “and so much more.” A returned Rockliff government would contribute $12million (£6.2million) to the “chocolate experience”, Mr Rockliff said.
This would include £1million for design and planning, £1million for early site work and then a further £4 million for activities that are currently unspecified. It would “rewrite the ‘must-see’ list for every visitor that comes to Tasmania”, the premier added.
Mr Rockliff said: “Two hundred million chocolate bars are produced right here at Cadbury’s at Claremont employing some 450 Tasmanians. We want to build on that, add value.
“You can imagine some glass windows looking out over the beautiful waters and you would experience, as you come through here, the new building, the world’s largest chocolate fountain, for example, a chocolate lab – an opportunity where Tasmanians can make their own Tasmanian chocolate with Tasmanian ingredients.”
The Guinness World Records list the world’s tallest chocolate fountain as that owned by Austrian chocolatiers Confiserie Wenschitz Gmbh, built in 2019. The fountain stands at 12.27m and features 1,000kg of liquid chocolate.
Meg Webb, an independent politician, said that the money could be better spent by providing additional funding to critical government services, like healthcare.
Ms Webb said of the chocolate fountain plan: “That [$12million] is a huge amount of money when you think about the ways it could be spent in areas that are absolutely screaming out for government support and are actually government responsibilities.”
‘It’s an opportunity where Tasmanians can make their own chocolate with Tasmanian ingredients’
Bribing the electorate with promises of new roads, better schools and lower taxes is a time-honoured campaign pitch. But offering a gigantic sugar rush is surely a new departure? The Liberal premier of Tasmania, Jeremy Rockliff, has told voters that if his government is re-elected, it will build the world’s largest chocolate fountain. The current record is held by an Austrian fountain standing some 40ft high. Channeling his inner Willie Wonka, Mr Rockliff said the new “chocolate experience” would also include a lab to make your own chocolate bar and would be a must-see for tourists to the island. Whether residents will see the £6million cost as money well spent is another matter, but they will never have an Easter egg shortage.