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Tasmania

Tasmania plans to open wilderness world heritage area to logging and tourism

In a worrying development, decades worth of environmental campaigning could be lost under plans unveiled by the Tasmanian government to open up the world heritage area to logging and tourism.

Under the rhetoric of supporting Indigenous people, the government has released the draft Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area Management Plan Project, while opening up the prospect of major new developments withing the region.

The National Parks and Reserves Management Act 2002 requires that the draft plan be made publically available to allow for representations to be made.

Your chance to have a say ends on Sunday 22 March 2015.

Continue reading “Tasmania plans to open wilderness world heritage area to logging and tourism” →

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Mt Wellington cable car one step closer?

There is a proposal for a cable car on Mt Wellington/ kunanyi in Hobart. The Wellington Park Management Trust or WPMT have recently approved the extension to the Pinnacle Specific Area (the area open to development on top of the mountain). The Tasmanian Planning Commission is currently reviewing the Wellington Park Management Trust’s decision to extend the Pinnacle Specific Area, and the next option open to the community is to ask the Tasmanian Planning Commission to hold public hearings regarding this decision.

Residents Opposed to the Cable Car (ROCC) doesn’t believe the WPMT have adequately considered the representations made to them regarding the extension of the Pinnacle Specific Area, and has written to the TPC and the Hobart City Council asking them to hold public hearings. ROCC is asking concerned people to also contact the Tasmanian Planning Commission and urge them to hold public hearings. Numbers really matter and we need all the people who really care to stand up and be counted.

Continue reading “Mt Wellington cable car one step closer?” →

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Old foes team up to preserve Higgs Track

This story by Hilary Burden from The Guardian describes some work being done to restore the famous Higgs Track, which climbs through the Great Western Tiers, across Tasmania’s Central Plateau, towards the Walls of Jerusalem. The context is how people from across the land use divide are finding ways to work together.

The Mountain Huts Preservation Society is collaborating with the NGO Environment Tasmania.

The article says:

“Historically, Mountain Huts and green groups such as Environment Tasmania have been foes, ever since the nationwide environmental movement encouraged the removal of mountain huts. Twenty or 30 years ago, manmade sites of historic significance to local communities in Australia’s high country were deemed to clash with a vision of a totally pristine wilderness.

But times have moved on, the Higgs Track is now part of the World Heritage Area, and the former foes are working together to build a bridge” (in this case a literal one, a bridge over a stream).

Continue reading “Old foes team up to preserve Higgs Track” →

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‘The Mountain’ book launch tonight

Five years in the making, The Mountain is the first photographer’s monograph on Mt Wellington in nearly 20 years.

Mark Clemens has created a superb photographic collection highlighting the uniqueness of this wild place on Hobart’s back doorstep with a foreword by award winning Tasmanian novelist, Heather Rose.

A photographic evocation of the Mountain’s own intrinsic nature: it lets the Mountain have its own voice and tell its own story.

The Mountain is Hardback $49.95, and is printed in Hobart to the highest specs.

Part of the proceeds go to the Tasmanian Land Conservancy.

Reservation essential to:   rsvp@fullersbookshop.com.au   or (03) 6234 3800

THE MOUNTAIN
BY MARK CLEMENS
BOOK LAUNCH

Follow The Mountain on facebook.com

WHEN

September 18, 2014 at 5:30pm – 6:30pm

WHERE

Fullers Bookshop
131 Collins St
Hobart, Tasmania 7000

 

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public meeting on the Mt Wellington cable car proposal

Saturday 23/08/2014 at 11:00 am

Southern Tasmanian Badminton Association

101 Cascade Rd, South Hobart

Come and hear what the boundary change to the Pinnacle Specific Area really means and how it will affect the mountain. Learn how to make your submission to the Wellington Park Management Trust most effective.

The Facebook page for the meeting is available here.

For background information on the cable car proposal, please check here.

Organised by Respect the Mountain.

 

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Global rock climbers alarmed at cable car proposal

This is impressive. A remarkable group of climbers have joined together to express their opposition to the proposed cable car development on Mt Wellington/ kunanyi in Hobart. There are some real luminaries of the climbing world signed on, and this will help bring international attention to this ridiculous project.

Continue reading “Global rock climbers alarmed at cable car proposal” →

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Organ Pipes ‘under threat’

The following is an update on the threat to Mt Wellington/kunanyi posed by a proposed cable car. It is a press release from Residents Opposed to the Cable Car (ROCC) Media Release, originally posted on Tasmanian Times.

The Wellington Park Management Trust has today announced an increase in the size of the proposed development at the top of the mountain, at the Pinnacles.

Continue reading “Organ Pipes ‘under threat’” →

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‘hazardous conditions’ expected in TAS mountains tomorrow

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a Bush Walkers Weather Alert for the Western and Central Plateau forecast districts in Tasmania.

“Bush walkers are advised that snow as low as 400 metres is expected during Saturday. These hazardous conditions are expected to occur in parts of the Western and Central Plateau forecast districts”.

If you’re planning to be out there, Stay safe! Might be a good day to hunker down in a hut.

Issued 10:21:00 AM AEST on Friday 11 July 2014

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Wellington Park Management Trust weighs up cable car expansion request

The following comes from The Mercury newspaper. Journalist is Michelle Paine.

You may want to add a comment to The Mercury article.

For background to this issue, please check here.

A CABLE car on Mt Wellington is a step closer as the public is called to comment on extending the summit’s development zone.

The Wellington Park Management Trust has agreed to evaluate the proposal to enlarge the Pinnacle Specific Area, which allows development.

The Mt Wellington Cableway Co requested the boundary be moved to accommodate a cable car.

Trust chair Christine Mucha said it did not mean the trust was supporting any particular development.

The change would extend the area by about 60m east of the observation shelter.

Dr Mucha said that after consultation, the trust would prepare a report for the Tasmanian Planning Commission.

“While we recognise the strong sentiment against the potential for future development in the Pinnacle Specific Area, the trust believes that the management plan enables such proposals to be considered and assessed in accordance with the performance standards contained in the plan,’’ Dr Mucha said.

MWCC project lead Adrian Bold said it was a positive step.

“We’re following proper process. They had to agree with our rationale. Now there will be a process that involves the public,’’ Mr Bold said.

He said enlarging the boundary was extra work but would mean the cable car would have less visual impact.

Residents Opposed to the Cable Car spokesman Ted Cutlan said he was appalled at the trust’s “rubber stamp’’.

“They’re bending the management plan to fit the development,’’ Mr Cutlan said.

“This is one step along the way. The developer has to put in a development application that would fit the plan.’’

 

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More detail revealed about proposed cable car on Mt Wellington

The saga of the cable car planned for Mt Wellington/ Kunanyi, above Hobart, continues, with the revelation that some sections of the towers would be 75 metres high.

The following comes from local group Respect The Mountain. For background to this proposal, please check here.

July 6, 2014

Respect The Mountain were shocked to learn the heights of the towers for Section 2 of the proposed Cable Car development. Images supplied to Respect The Mountain show heights up to 75m for the development – greater in height than Tasmania’s tallest building, Wrest Point Casino.

The heights are marked on a plan labeled ‘Line Profile – Section 2’ with majority shareholder, Bullwheel IC3’s logo prominently featured in the top right corner.

Spokesperson Jason Turvey, questioned why the heights were hidden from the public. “Mt Wellington Cableway Co (MWCC) were more than happy to disclose technical data such as cabin capacity figures, rope diameters, travel times and speeds, as well as the length of the cable car and elevation so it seems odd that they would leave of information about the heights of the towers when obviously they had that information available.”

The three towers vary between 36 to 75m in height. The first tower in South Hobart will be 75m, the second 45m and the tower above the Organ Pipes will be 36m. The current Observation Shelter at the summit is approximately 5.5m in height

“The heights are enormous! To give perspective it’s like having a Wrest Point Tower (73m), followed by a Hydro Tasmania building (47m) and then a Marine Board Building (39m) sitting above the Organ Pipes.”

It is suspected that the heights were not revealed to the public for fear of further damaging their ‘social licence’ which has recently come under scrutiny.

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more private development in Tasmanian World Heritage Area ?

As the Tasmanian and federal governments are being internationally criticised at the World Heritage Commission meeting in Doha over their attempt to de-list 74,000 hectares of forest from the Tasmanian World Heritage Area, a new threat to the integrity of Tasmania’s reserves has come to light.

A Tasmanian government website is calling for Expressions of Interest from investors w ho have “ideas (for development) in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area as well as our National Parks and Reserves”.

It says the government wants to “unlock its natural areas to allow exciting new tourism experiences that are complemented by sensitive and appropriate tourism infrastructure”. In other words, more private development in conservation reserves.

Specifically, it says that the Government is looking for “developments which broaden the range of exciting and unique experiences on offer in our state by improving access for tourists while maintaining the integrity of our natural areas”.

It suggests that “sensible and appropriate” developments in the Wilderness World Heritage Area, National Parks and Reserves might include “resort-style accommodation. It might include walking tours, helicopter flights, mountain-bike riding, river cruises, new interpretative experiences or even luxury camping escapes”.

The Government is initially looking for ideas for the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area as well as our National Parks and Reserves. In the longer term it will consider other protected areas including Crown land and State Forests.

The first round for putting in an EOI is open until 21 November 2014.

With the anti-green agenda of the Tasmanian government it is very hard not to see this as a dangerous development which will undermine the ecological integrity of the reserve system.

The Greens have opposed this process. Greens’ Parks and Tourism spokesperson Nick McKim said in May that “the Liberals have an irrational and ideological desire for development at any cost, and they simply cannot be trusted to safeguard the natural and cultural values of Tasmania’s National Parks.”

 

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Mt Wellington cablecar proposal update

The following update comes from the Hobart group Respect the Mountain, who are concerned about plans to build a cable car up Mt Mount Wellington/ Kunanyi (check here for some background).

Dangerous precedent to be discussed at Hobart City Council meeting on 28th April

April 25, 2014

cable carA dangerous precedent is to be discussed at the Hobart City Council meeting in Town Hall on Monday 28th April at 5pm.

Mount Wellington Cableway Co. (MWCC) is hoping that council will grant landowner permission to extend the boundary of the Pinnacle Zone without any indication of what will be built in the area between the lookout and the top of the Organ Pipes.

Currently the area below the lookout platforms are protected from development. If the MWCC gets their way, then panaromic views from the top of the mountain could be marred by cables protruding beneath them.

This has the potential to set very a dangerous precedent for any future development on the mountain. Without any plans or specifications provided to council, the proponent is asking the City of Hobart to blindly provide permission to develop outside of established development zone. If the Hobart City Council agrees to this request, then it sets a precedent for any further proposals to be able to design wherever they want on the mountain!

MWCC are also yet to reveal exactly what they plan to build on the summit. Apart from a cableway station, other potential buildings that have been discussed include restaurants, cafes, visitor centre, accommodation, and an ampitheatre/function centre. This would form an enormous footprint on the fragile alpine environment and naturally wouldn’t all fit within the current development zone.

It is our belief that the cable car is being used to cloak an enormous development at the pinnacle.

Revelations at the MWCC breakfast launch just before Easter focused mostly on what they had planned on Cascade Brewerys land. Very little was mentioned about what was planned for the summit other than MWCC planned to fly an open-top cable car over the Organ Pipes.

Current revelations of plans are eerily similar to the 1993 Skyway plans that was to start at Cascades and used an aerial tram to travel to the summit where a restaurant and ski field were to be erected.
Respect The Mountain is calling on all concerned residents of Hobart to contact their Aldermen over the long weekend via mobile or email to register their concern before Monday’s meeting. Contact details are available on Respect The Mountain’s Facebook page, Twitter account and website. Alternatively, members of the public can attend the meeting at Town Hall at 5pm.

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