Central Highlands Council yet to explain Malbena refusal

The Central Highlands Council is yet to tell a Launceston tourism operator why it blocked his application to build a helicopter-accessed standing camp within the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.

Developer Daniel Hackett, centre, sits grim faced at the Central Highlands Council meeting held to vote on Lake Malbena development. Picture: EDDIE SAFARIK

THE Central Highlands Council is yet to tell a Launceston tourism operator why it blocked his application to build a helicopter-accessed standing camp within the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.

The council rejected the controversial Lake Malbena proposal at a meeting in Bothwell late last month on the grounds it did not comply with parts of the area’s planning scheme, including its bushfire management plan.

More than 1300 submissions were made in opposition to Daniel and Simone Hackett’s project and it was voted down six-three at a passionate meeting attended by fishers, walkers and conservationists.

Mr and Mrs Hackett criticised the council as failing to assess the project against the planning scheme and appealed against the rejection in the Resource Management and Planning Appeal Tribunal.

PROPONENTS TO APPEAL AGAINST COUNCIL KNOCKBACK

Emotions ran high at the Bothwell Town Hall meeting on the Lake Malbena plan. Picture: EDDIE SAFARIK

At a preliminary appeal hearing on Monday, lawyer Adam Beeson, acting for the council, asked for a further fortnight to settle its grounds for refusal.

The hearing was told Mr and Mrs Hackett were yet to receive a formal reason for the council’s rejection of the project or an official copy of the Bothwell meeting’s minutes.

Registrar Jarrod Bryan granted the council 10 days to make its case.

The Wilderness Society, Tasmanian National Parks Association, Richard Webb and Paul Smith have joined as parties to the appeal and will be represented by the Environmental Defenders Office. They were given a further week to potentially broaden the grounds of refusal.

The Hackett family’s first artist’s impression of their proposed Lake Malbena eco-tourism standing camp. Picture: CUMULUS STUDIO

Project proponent Daniel Hackett was represented by lawyer Shaun McElwaine.

The five-day hearing was set for the week of May 27.

A separate challenge to the project will be heard in the Federal Court in Melbourne on Tuesday.

The Wilderness Society, again represented by the Environmental Defenders Office, will challenge the federal Environment Department’s process of approving the development in the Federal Court.

The project would have 240 helicopter flights a year into the Walls of Jerusalem National Park. It received state and federal approvals before being voted down by the council.

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