State Government is “pulling every lever” to give developers access to the Tassie wilderness, say Greens

An email chain released under Right To Information shows the Government is “pulling every lever” to give developers access to the Tasmanian wilderness, the Greens say.

EMAILS between a tourism operator and Parks staff show the State Government is “pulling every lever” to give developers access to the Tasmanian wilderness, the Greens say.

Heavily redacted Right to Information documents released to the Greens provide a glimpse of efforts to fast-track access to the South Coast Track for huts walk proponent Ian Johnstone.

An email dated May 10, 2018 from Mr Johnstone to Parks and Wildlife Service acting manager (planning and evaluation) Andrew Harvey said:

“I am planning to fly into the SW next Monday to inspect the hut sites with my appointed architect/builder. It would be helpful to get a response on the flagging tape, hand trimming of vegetation and auger holes by close of business Friday (tomorrow) if possible”.

In an email to a colleague later that day Mr Harvey said he would “speed things up” by drafting the necessary authority to be signed off to allow Mr Johnstone to travel to the South Coast Track the following Monday.

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Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said the emails showed the State Government was “pulling every lever” to give developers access to the wilderness.

“These documents, few as they are, confirm Mr Johnstone’s proposal for luxury huts on the pristine South Coast Track is quite advanced. It’s important to remember we are talking about one of the world’s last truly wild coastlines,” Ms O’Connor said.

“Mr Johnstone requested a permit from the director of Parks and was told he’d get one the next day.

“Under the Liberals, it’s developers and private businesses calling the shots over public protected areas.”

A Government spokesman said the Greens were opposed to a long list of important opportunities for sensible and appropriate visitor experiences.

“This project, and others like it, will create jobs and provide new and exciting ways for visitors to interact with our environment in a sustainable way,” the spokesman said.

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Mr Johnstone said once his proposal was submitted it would be open for public consultation for a time set by PWS.

He said the proposal to create a guided walk involved building six low-impact walkers huts along the 85km long South Coast Track.

Mr Johnstone said that like the “highly popular” huts model on the Overland Track, the proposed huts would be functional, comfortable and out of view of other walkers.

“They will not be luxury.”

He said the approval process required the huts and the sites to be independently assessed on environmental, cultural and other criteria.

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