Tasmanian Aboriginal community welcome decision to abandon reopening of 4WD tracks

The Tasmanian Aboriginal community has cautiously welcomed the government’s decision to walk away from contentious plans to reopen 4WD tracks in the state’s North West. LATEST >>

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THE Tasmanian Aboriginal community has cautiously welcomed the government’s decision to walk away from contentious plans to reopen four-wheel-diving tracks in the Arthur-Pieman Conservation Area.

Parks Minister Jacquie Petrusma on Thursday announced the tracks were unlikely to reopen.

“The report identifies that cultural heritage remains a significant impediment to reopening the tracks,” she said.

Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre spokeswoman Sharnie Read said the evidence against reopening the tracks was overwhelming.

“It is no surprise the latest study found it is inconsistent to reopen the three closed tracks along the Takayna coast without danger of damage to irreplaceable Aboriginal heritage,” she said.

Tony and Eunice Atkins driving on some of the existing tracks into areas of the Arthur Pieman conservation area near Temma.

“Aboriginal heritage officers and the Aboriginal community have been saying that for years and the Federal Court agreed five years ago.

“It is a disgrace that Braddon electoral politics have cost Tasmanian taxpayers an undisclosed but very high amount of money to attempt concessions to off-road vehicle users and great anxiety to the many Aboriginal people who have been fearing an opening of the tracks”.

“Just stop now is our plea to the Tasmanian government”

She said there was still no Aboriginal representation on the Arthur Pieman Consultative Committee.

Premier Peter Gutwein on Friday said the government had tried to balance the needs of a range of interests, but the report was clear

“It demonstrates quite clearly that it would be very challenging to have these tracks open,” he said.

“I think the most important thing to do first of all, was to have the conversation with relevant stakeholder groups, which the Minister and the deputy premier did this week, along with the Minister for the Environment.

“But cabinet will consider this matter in coming weeks fully.”

Bob Brown Foundation's Jenny Weber on Mount Wellington/kunanyi. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

The Bob Brown Foundation called on the government to make its plans for the area clearer.

“The Liberals’ embarrassing 2014 election commitment to re-open tracks in one of Australia’s richest Aboriginal heritage coasts caused a showdown with Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre in the Federal Court that has no place in this era,“ Foundation Campaign Manager Jenny Weber said.

“It is unacceptable for a Government 230 years after the invasion of Australia to be pushing an archaic attempt to foster off-road vehicle enthusiasts recreation over the preservation of 40,000 years of Aboriginal living landscape.

She called on the government to have the area listed as a national park, recognised for its world heritage values and return the land to the stewardship of the Aboriginal people.

Eight-year push to reopen 4WD tracks in state’s north abandoned

THE government has all but abandoned its eight-year push to reopen four-wheel driving tracks in the Arthur-Pieman Conservation area — after an aboriginal heritage report recommended against it.

Reopening the tracks to recreational users was a key Liberal election promise during the 2014 state election.

But after fighting the state’s Aboriginal community through the courts, Parks Minister Jacquie Petrusma has announced the tracks were unlikely to reopen.

“The report identifies that cultural heritage remains a significant impediment to reopening the tracks,” she said.

“The government’s priority has always been the need to protect the significant cultural and natural values within the APCA, while allowing Tasmanians to fish, camp and explore the landscape,” she said.

“The government recognises the importance of recreational off-road vehicle access to many in the Tasmanian community and is committed to working with them to develop further opportunities on the West Coast.”

Eroded tracks south of the Pieman River within Tasmania's Tarkine.

A final decision on the plan to reopen the tracks is expected in the coming weeks.

The tracks were closed by the Labor government in 2012 to protect the environment and aboriginal heritage — including middens thousands of years old.

The Federal Court upheld the closure in 2016.

A cultural values assessment required under the Australian Government under the Commonwealth Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act found that mitigation measures proposed by the government would not work.

“In the view of the consultants undertaking the present study, the current proposal is not

currently supported by sufficient evidence that it will be materially effective in mitigating

damage to Aboriginal heritage values, including listed national heritage values, associated

with intended compliant use,” the report said.

“It does not adequately address the unacceptably high risk of impacts associated with non-compliant activities which have created significant damage in the past, and in several instances, were observed to still be occurring.”

It also said the proposal did not have the support of the Tasmanian Aboriginal community.

Acting Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff said the announcement had been snuck out under the cover of a Covid press conference late on a Thursday.

“The takayna coastline is rich in Aboriginal Heritage, with middens and hut depressions dating back tens of thousands of years,” she said.

“The report confirmed this coast is absolutely a landscape of cultural significance and recommended the tracks remain closed.

“Declaring the tracks will remain closed is the least the Premier must do.

“Peter Gutwein also owes an apology to Aboriginal Tasmanians for his government’s trashing of their ancient cultural values and putting them through unwarranted stress.”

In 2013, former Braddon MP Adam Brooks received a rousing reception from 4000 people at a public rally in Smithton saying “traditional” access would be reinstated a few months after the election if the Liberals won government.

Old hut at centre of conservation battle given heritage nod

THE old bushwalkers’ hut at the centre of a conservation battle has been provisionally added to the state’s heritage register.

Reg Halls Hut at Lake Malbena in the Walls of Jerusalem is one of just six old bushwalking huts in Tasmania recognised for their historic significance.

The hut was built on Halls Island in the 1950s by Mr Hall, a Launceston lawyer and pioneering bushwalker, Tasmanian Heritage Council Brett Torossi said.

“It demonstrates a new development in traditional bush hut building, representing the efforts of co-builders Reg Hall and Dick Reed to build the perfect small highland recreational hut,” she said.

Walker and trout fisher Richard Webb outside the historic hut on Halls Island on Lake Malbena in the Walls of Jerusalem NP and Tamsmania's World Heritage Area, where an exclusive fly fishing eco resort has been proposed for the island by Wild Drake. Webb and others may not be able to visit the island in the future if the proponent's exclusive use of the island is approved.

The site now forms part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, although members of the public are not able to visit the hut without special permission as the government has leased the island to a private developer.

The ongoing debate over the hut and the island was symbolic of longstanding tensions between conservation and tourism dating back more than a century, the Heritage Council notes in its assessment.

“Whether such development was appropriate for the TWWHA is still being debated at time of writing,” it notes.

Daniel Hackett, who leases Halls Island and plans to develop a standing camp there, welcomed the listing.

“We welcome the provisional listing, and have worked hard to ensure the hut and heritage gets the acknowledgement and protection that it deserves by contributing a vast array of historical information to Heritage Tasmania,” he said.

“I do not believe the provisional listing impacts the proposed development, which is not situated within the provisionally listed areas.”

Polystyrene floating on Lake Malbena.

One recent visitor to the site said the lake had been polluted with polystyrene.

“I never expected that collecting up polystyrene from the water would be the first thing I would be doing after walking into the World Heritage listed Lake Malbena,” said bushwalker Oliver Strutt

“How much rubbish has washed down into the lakes below Lake Malbena and will the Parks Service remove this mess from the lake”?

“Why has this situation been allowed to occur and who takes responsibility for this mess”?

Mr Hackett said the polstyrene was not his and was not associated with a boat at the site, which he alledged has been vandalised. Police have been informed.

“We have never used or taken polystyrene to Halls Island or Lake Malbena, and it is not used in any way shape or form with the boat,” he said.

Dan Broun from Fishers and Walkers Tasmania has been instrumental in opposing the development.

He said the hut’s condition had deteriorated in recent years and the boat should never have bene taken to hte lake.

“Once again we see the environment and ordinary Tasmanians are playing second fiddle to property developers and big tourism. [Parks and Wildlife Service chief] Jason Jacobi needs to tear up the lease now and put an end to this farcical situation.”

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