Tasmanian Conservation Trust refers Cambria Green project to Foreign Investment Review Board over landowner, sale queestions
A contentious $138 million project on the state’s east coast is currently in the Supreme Court, but a Tasmanian group has asked the Foreign Investment Review Board to look at issues around ownership and previous sale of land parcels.
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THE Tasmanian Conservation Trust has referred the contentious Cambria Green project to the Foreign Investment Review Board over concerns about ownership and the previous sale of parcels of land.
The planned $138 million development includes a series of villas, units, hotel rooms and other facilities, as well as a crematorium and medical service on 3000 hectares of land at Dolphin Sands, near Swansea.
TCT director Peter McGlone questioned the sale in 2014 of 12 land titles that comprise the Cambria Green Estate and their potential market value.
Mr McGlone also raised questions about landowner consent signatures, an issue currently subject to examination in the Supreme Court.
“We have asked the Foreign Investment Review Board to examine the sale to determine who the true beneficial owners are and whether the sale prices contained in Land Tasmania’s database were the actual prices paid,’’ he said.
Ronald Hu, the CEO of Cambria Green Agriculture & Tourism Management, said the sale of the Cambria Green Estate was completed correctly under national and state regulations.
“As part of that process in 2014, the Foreign Investment Review Board has been fully informed and involved,’’ he said.
The TCT has fears that proposed Major Projects legislation will be used for a project like Cambria Green, but Planning Minister Roger Jaensch said the laws would not be used for planning scheme amendments.
The Cambria Green project is currently before Tasmania’s Supreme Court, after the Tasmanian Planning Commission last year ruled it could not hear a planning scheme amendment application for the project because it was not satisfied landowners had given consent.
In 2018, the Glamorgan Spring Bay Council had voted to amend planning rules to allow the project to go ahead.
The proponent’s bid for a judicial review of the commission’s decision was launched in the Supreme Court when a brief hearing was held in February.
A further hearing date has not yet been scheduled.
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