Southern Wild distillery ready to pull trigger and make 1000L of sanitiser

Southern Wild is a gin distillery at Providore Place in Devonport, and owner George Burgess said the company is well positioned to begin making sanitiser immediately.

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"We're poised ready to commence production of hand sanitiser pending the approval of the government," Mr Burgess said on Friday.

"We have enough product on site to manufacture 1000L for immediate use."

Mr Burgess said he has approached state education minister Jeremy Rockliff seeking support for the proposal, as a private company can not simply begin producing commercial quantities of any product for use at a school.

He also said he has applied to the Australian Tax Office seeking an excise tax exemption for the production of the sanitiser, as the distillery does not intend to make a profit.

"In times of crisis we have all got to pull together. Team work makes the dream work, you know?"

Mr Burgess said the distillery was ready to entirely cease the production of gin and begin making hand sanitiser full time for schools, and possibly hospitals, as required.

He said he sought government support to cover the costs of the production which would ensure his employees remained employed for the foreseeable future.

Southern Wild is part production facility, and part hospitality and tourism business, and like so many of its counterparts around Tasmania and the world, has seen a drastic reduction in business recently.

"We're not making a cent but we'd be able to continue employing our staff. It keeps us busy, it keeps our employees gainfully employed for quite some time.

"By doing something like this we're able to ensure the wheels of our society are able to keep ticking on and kids may be able to keep going to school.

"It ticks all my boxes for the most exciting project we could do since we opened. All I want to do is support the community in any way that I can.

"We live in the best place in the world and we should be supporting each other any way we can."

Mr Rockliff said the adaptation to the challenging conditions was a "great example of innovation occurring in Tasmania to ensure essential supplies can be maintained."

"While discussions are in the early stages we are very supportive of such efforts and are looking at how government can assist to get production up and running as quickly as possible," he said.

Burnie distillery Hellyer's Road will take the possibility of producing hand sanitiser into consideration, spokesman Don Jennings said.

In the state's south, the Lark Distillery will also begin producing hand sanitiser to meet demand during the pandemic.