Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens Environment spokesperson
I had the pleasure of tabling a petition in Parliament today opposing the TasWater pipeline being proposed to cut through the Peter Murrell Conservation Area.
The 1,526 people signatures were collected in only four weeks. This shows the strength of community outrage at the unnecessary route TasWater has proposed.
The community consultation process called, overwhelmingly, for a pipeline route around the outside of the Conservation Area. But TasWater ignored the strong public sentiment and chose the slightly cheaper route through the middle.
The threatened species in the Peter Murrell Conservation Area demonstrate the importance of retaining intact reserve vegetation.
Many threatened orchids are at stake, along with the precarious existence of the Forty-spotted Pardalote. There's also recent evidence that the Reserve is home to a Tasmanian Devil with pouch young.
The reserve is under extreme development pressure because of the expanding Kingston suburbs. There's significant loss of large tracts of trees and shrubs nearby from big subdivisions.
In 1997, the Reserve was put in place by then-Liberal Minister for the Environment, Peter Hodgman, to try and protect this tiny area from the exact pressures it's facing today. It's a case of a death by a thousand cuts.
It seems like money is the only criteria that would ever be the decider in TasWater's decision. But the Peter Murrell Conservation Area and its natural values are priceless.
Environment Minister, Matthew Groom, needs to make sure the protection of threatened animals and plants come before TasWater's short-term financial interests.
The Liberals must listen to the Kingborough residents and protect this beloved reserve. They can't allow this sewage pipeline route through the Peter Murrell Conservation Area.