Cassy O'Connor MP | Greens Leader and Parks spokesperson
Parks Minister, Matthew Groom, again has egg on his face, this time over his headlong rush to develop in Tasmania's National Parks and World Heritage Area.
The Minister clearly raised expectations among tourism operators bidding to develop in protected areas, that he would deliver a World Heritage Management Plan to suit their needs.
A delegation from U.N. World Heritage Committee has been in Hobart this week, with concerns over the Minister's Draft World Heritage Management Plan at the top of their mission agenda.
The delegation, who I met with on Wednesday, is also expecting significant changes to the Draft Plan to better protect World Heritage values.
Minister Groom is wedged between a rock and a hard place of his own creation.
Every potential developer who has submitted an Expression of Interest under Minister Groom's process will have believed that the wheels would be oiled to the greatest extent possible by the Minister and his Office of the Coordinator General.
Despite his best endeavours to enable private profit to be put before sound World Heritage Management, Minister Groom has not been able to deliver for his developer constituency.
The EOI process is in complete disarray.