Parks boffin Geoff Coles hits Tasmania 4WD tracks decision

A SENIOR bureaucrat has retired from Tasmania’s Park and Wildlife Service to speak out against a decision to reopen 4WD tracks.

A SENIOR bureaucrat has retired early from Tasmania’s Park and Wildlife Service so that he can speak out against a decision to reopen 4WD tracks in one of Australia’s most important archeological regions.

Geoff Coles, former regional manager, late yesterday told News Corp Australia the move to reopen 4WD tracks in National Heritage areas of the Tarkine coast would damage more priceless Aboriginal sites.

He accused the state Liberal government of lying over the issue and said the Abbott government had an obligation under federal environment law to intervene to keep the tracks in Tasmania’s northwest closed.

“Undoing decades of planning, consultation and work will contribute significantly to ongoing damage to mankind’s priceless and non-renewable heritage,” Mr Coles said.

He warned the government’s promise to re-route some of the tracks around Aboriginal sites, which include shell middens, hut mounds and petroglyphs, would expand the damage to new areas.

“This proposal needs to be referred to the commonwealth government, particularly since part of the route has not been open since the early 1980s and there will be impacts on nationally significant heritage values,” he said.

He claimed leading 4WD campaigners had been responsible for past damage but had been let off after political interference. “Several of those involved in this offence are respected leaders of 4WD clubs,” he said. “Political interference following lobbying forced Parks to only issue letters of caution. These people are … figures involved in lobbying to have the tracks reopened.”

The state government says $300,000 will be spent ensuring the tracks are reopened in a manner that does not further damage the Aboriginal sites.