Cable company threats may put HCC off side

THE Mount Wellington Cableway Company has done itself no favours by waving a big legal stick at the Hobart City Council, writes Lord Mayor Ron Christie

ACCESS: An artist’s impression of a cableway gondola.

What happens now?

It has been called a hijacking by Green aldermen, an aberration of proper process and has generated reaction on social media for and against a cable car on kunanyi/Mt Wellington.

History repeats itself from the time our mountain was proclaimed a public reserve in 1906 and talk of a cable car commenced.

In this short space I do not seek to agree with either side of this issue by law, but I do wish to clarify a situation based on my understanding of the legal position.

On August 20 the Hobart City Council will decide whether to allow cable car access across public land owned or operated by the council.

This was a motion presented by an alderman and accepted by the Parks and Recreation Committee on a 5-0 vote.

Theoretically, based on current numbers, its success appears almost certain at the forthcoming council meeting.

What occurred at the Parks and Recreation Committee was not, as some might suggest, illegal.

It was a landlord decision, not a planning authority decision.

A recommendation by our council officers, not the motion as suggested by an alderman, permitting non-invasive, investigative work to conduct a flora and fauna survey with 14 stringent conditions was rejected and replaced with a motion allowing no construction of an access road or infrastructure.

Under law, this procedure is permitted and a challenge, I fear, would not be successful.

The MWCC has done itself no favour in comments made following that meeting and indeed may have confirmed the feelings of committee and residents, suggesting it could invest $2 million per kilometre to improve road access in that area.

Secondly, the council has continually requested since 2014 a development application for a cable car be presented, and if memory serves correct, no application has ever been received.

Remember the Skyway Cable Car in the nineties and the Wellington Park Management Act 1993 which provided for a cable car?

No development application was ever presented even following that Act. In saying that, the MWCC should be given every opportunity to complete a fauna and flora survey required for a development application.

There has been much conjecture, provoking public reaction while waiting for this application.

The residents of South Hobart have been patient and peaceful and deserve an outcome in their interest.

So where to from here?

There are many scenarios. The motion, if upheld on August 20 will bring relief to residents and the proponents will need to again seek access to complete their study.

This could come on the same evening as a foreshadowed motion from the floor with firm conditions, delegated to the general manager and officers to oversee.

Or it may lapse and the MWCC will look at other access options, there are still several more.

Finally, the Government may step in and take over the entire process from the council, as it did with the Mount Wellington Cable Car Facilitation Act 2017.

That would be an unfortunate outcome for the community.

My only advice as lord mayor is that all of us engage civilly with each other and open to all points of view.

We must ensure that the debate is conducted in a respectful manner and I will chair with this in mind at the council meeting on Monday, August 20.