Maria Island is a unique place and it deserves to be preserved and protected. The Greens have been its consistent advocate.
I am proud to take on the Maria Island Pledge on behalf of the Tasmanian Greens.
The Liberals’ pledge to keep Maria Island ‘wild and pristine’, however, is hypocritical in the extreme. This is the same government who have put the National Park’s wildness and pristine state at risk by simultaneously increasing visitor numbers and starving Parks and Wildlife of resources.
In 2018, the Hodgman Government pumped more and more tourists into our state’s protected areas without a fig for their impact on natural and heritage values. This is a government that puts corporate profit over the environment and heritage every time.
The Deputy Premier’s comments about a Maria Island pledge are particularly hard to stomach, given he was the person who approved the Okehampton Bay fish farm. One of the very large concerns about this salmon farm was the impact on Maria Island’s marine park and World Heritage values.
We congratulate and support the East Coast community for doing what they can to keep their place protected from thoughtless tourists. It is deeply disappointing it’s the community who has to step in and protect Maria Island because of the Hodgman Government’s inaction.
