Protest group faces ban from walking in park

A bushwalking protest group has been told it must comply with the same laws as the development it opposes.

Lake Malbena and Halls Island in the Walls of Jerusalem National Park, the site of a proposed exclusive luxury camping project. Picture: Rob Blakers

BUSHWALKERS opposing a development in the state’s central highlands have been told they could be stopped from visiting the National Park site by Federal environmental laws.

A group planning a visit to Lake Malbena next month has been told it may need to apply for assessment of their potential impact under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act — a process that could take months.

The legal advice has put the organised event in doubt, although independent walkers are expected to proceed regardless.

Long-time bushwalker and trout fishing expert Greg French is organising a rally, picnic and community walk — under the banner “Reclaim Malbena” — on the weekend of December 7 and 8. But he has been told the group will have to meet the same environmental standards to walk and camp near the site as the helicopter-serviced luxury camp they are opposing.

FUTURE OF LAKE MALBENA PROJECT REMAINS UNCERTAIN

The event is intended to draw attention to a tourism development planned for Halls Island in Lake Malbena under the Government’s Expressions of Interest program.

“It’s to protest the lack of transparency,” Mr French said. “We refuse to be denied access to our own land, especially when the processes which led to the privatisation of that island were just so opaque.”

Mr Finch said the state’s parks service had already tried to prevent the event from going ahead by saying just eight people at a time would be allowed into the area.

And he said Parks was not able to tell him whether participants were able to visit Halls Island or not because of a lease over the island — the details of which are not public.

“DPIPWE is saying it’s commercial-in-confidence and they have no ability to show us,” Mr French said.

“From our perspective it’s absolutely impossible for anyone to know what their legal obligations are. If we don't have a right to know what the law is, how do we know if we’re within the law or not? It’s like something out of Kafka.

“It’s a normal thing when you’re holding an event to have to get an event permit, but it’s not normal to be harassed about it.”

He said Parks also said attendees would be required to carry out their own faecal waste — a requirement not imposed on any other bushwalkers in Tasmania.

“Because it is advice that’s not applied to other people, it feels like intimidation, and that’s what bothers me,” Mr French said.

The proponent of the development, Daniel Hackett, said he was unavailable to comment. The Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.