text: Restaurant critic and festival curator Leo Schofield, 79, claimed living in Tasmania was the unhappiest time of his life . An Australian festival organiser has slammed Tasmania as a state full 'dregs, bogans and third-generation morons'. In a scathing article, long time restaurant critic and festival curator Leo Schofield, 79, claimed living in Tasmania was the unhappiest time of his life and the decade he spent there left him feeling bitter and depressed. 'I think I came very close to either a nervous breakdown or suicide. I just started to fall apart,' he told Fairfax. Mr Schofield moved to Hobart to set up a Baroque music festival in what he claims was an attempt to help Tasmanians take advantage of its grand heritage. He decided to relocate back to New South Wales after the Tasmanian Government cut the festivals funding by 25 per cent. Mr Schofield said he was offered $300,000 for the 2014 festival which was a reduction from the $400,000 the government offered in the previous year. 'We were deeply wounded and shocked,' he said. '[The festival] was supported by a lot of wonderful people down there, who shared the vision that the government wouldn't. Anyhow, we threw up our hands and said, 'We're not going to do it anymore. F**k you.' Mr Schofield moved to Hobart to set up a Baroque music festival, but decided to relocate back to New South Wales after the Tasmanian Government cut the festivals funding by 25 per cent . After receiving an offer from Queensland arts organisations he decided to move the festival to Brisbane. Mr Schofield said his daughters recognised that the battle he was waging with the Tasmanian Government took a toll on him and decided to stage an 'intervention'. 'The whole process knocked me about terribly and I honestly started going to pieces,' he said. 'I was drinking, I was taking a lot of tablets, and stupidly driving when I was in no condition to drive. I was suffering from acute depression.' While Mr Schofield admits he was 'absolutely obsessed, tremendously intrigued' by Tasmania, he continued to blast Tasmanian's for wanting to 'dig it up, chop it down, sell it to the Chinese.' Luke Martin from the Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania Tweeted the above after Mr Schofield said of Tasmania: 'All the young people leave, and the only ones left are the dregs, the bogans, the third-generation morons' He added the above despite Mr Schofield saying he suffered from acute depression after the mishap . He continued: 'All the young people leave, and the only ones left are the dregs, the bogans, the third-generation morons'. He said he plans to reserve a chapter in his memoirs dedicated to his time in Tasmania called 'Revenge of the Bogans'. Luke Martin from the Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania responded to Mr Schofield's comments labelling them as 'blatant mistruths'. He tweeted: 'No one cut his funding, he asked for more and spat the dummy when it wasn't given'.
target: Restaurant critic and festival curator Leo Schofield said living in Tasmania was the unhappiest time of his life .
  He said the government cut funding to a festival he was setting up by 25% .
  The struggle for funding led him to develop acute depression .
  He criticised locals for wanting to 'dig it up, chop it down, sell it to the Chinese'
  Spokesperson for state's Tourism Industry Council said his comments were 'blatant mistruths'