The return domestic airfare came to $586 and because I had an early flight the next morning, I stayed at an airport hotel in Melbourne which cost $342.

So this was the flag fall before I got anywhere near international departures.

This was the premium for living in a sovereign island state.

It stinks.

In what must be one of the cheapest outlays of the Federation the Commonwealth subsidises freight and sea passenger fares to Tasmania, currently worth about $240 million a year.

Before the state government thinks this is highway robbery, I will get to the ludicrously mean-spirited Bass Strait air travel subsidy to King and Flinders before this column is finished.

During my hectic life as a working journalist I would always say a little prayer of gratitude if I got to the weekend without a phone call from Peter Brohier, mainly because he would keep me on the phone for ages in his relentless pursuit of justice for Tasmanian travellers, even though he was a Melbourne based lawyer.

The Brohier thesis was that Bass Strait was part of the national highway and therefore Tasmania deserved funding in recognition of that.

Under his plan Tasmania's rightful share of national transport funding was more like $3 billion a year than the paltry $240 million we get in freight and passenger subsidies each year.

I always admired his selfless tenacity, and of course he was always right.

The Commonwealth Treasury hates these sops to Tasmanian voting patterns and every year Treasury would propose that the subsidies should be scrapped or at least reduced.

I am well informed that one year in a Federal Cabinet razor gang meeting, Paul Keating noted the Treasury submission once again, walked over to the window as if lost in thought, until he spun around and said "Naah, I can't do it."

So, Peter Brohier is our modern version of Paul Revere who warned American settlers the British were coming.

But for people like him we will forever be like that pathetic young ruffian Oliver Twist, daring to ask for more.

Tasmania is not just another Norfolk Island or Kangaroo Island or Great Keppel Island, Tasmania is a sovereign member of the 1901 compact of Federation.

All we get is a constitutional guarantee of five House of Reps' seats, 12 Senate seats like other states and a federal agreement to bankroll about 64 per cent of all state revenues.

Unlike all other states we don't enjoy the jobs bonanzas accompanying the location of large military establishments, even though Antarctica will eventually become the centre of conflict by countries that would love to get their hands on the continent's vast mineral resources.

Governments from both sides have only ever paid lip service to Brohier lobbying.

Of course they are not going to go anyway near the suggestion that on paper Bass Strait is part of the national highway.

Other states would whinge like jackals.

But I'm not just interested in a larger share of our current transport subsidies.

I want it extended to airline travel.

More than 90 percent of Tasmanian travel across Bass Strait is by air.

Imagine the growth in tourism if a non-discounted airfare was eligible for a 10 percent subsidy for non-residential visitors, and say, by 15 per cent for residents who could show they lived here for most of the year.

Why should Tasmanians suffer unduly from that moat round the state, and please do not insult us by suggesting we could live elsewhere if we feel so aggrieved.

Either Tasmania is a major player in the federation or it's not.

Either the Commonwealth does something about our disadvantages or it doesn't and explains why.

The Bass Strait Air travel subsidy applies only to pensioners or DVA recipients aged over 65.

The subsidy amounts to a 50 percent rebate on one return flight a year between King or Flinders and Tasmania or Victoria.

I've been to both islands several times and last time I checked the inhabitants were mainly Australians, living wonderfully or mercifully in exile.

The cost of access to Tassie or Victoria was a hot topic last time I was there for my second King Island Show.

These islands are truly beautiful, undiscovered gems of paradise, but the cost of an airfare is prohibitive.

The return airfare for two adults and two kids between Launceston and King Island is $2,420.80, even before you consider a hire car.

Now who has got the money for that, when those airfare prices could get the family to Noosa?

The pollies will be hard of hearing about this because they have a travel budget for trips to the island, and besides, there's not a whole lot of votes in it.

You see, travel isn't easy from the island state, but always remember how Peter Brohier would keep pushing and pushing, and making a noise.