Parks Minister Matthew Groom has comprehensively failed to address key concerns about his draft management plan for the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA).
“Mr Groom has failed to rule out logging and mining in the TWWHA, and completely missed the opportunity to demonstrate that he understands what wilderness is, let alone how it needs to be protected,” Greens Parks spokesperson Nick McKim MP said.
“His commitment to retain the word ‘wilderness’ in the management plan is rhetorical only, and means nothing without strong protections which his draft plan completely lacks.”
“By seeing wilderness as important only to Tasmania’s brand, Mr Groom has shown that he fails to understand its true nature. He may know the price of everything, but he knows the value of nothing.”
“If he remains committed to the ‘proper protection’ of the TWWHA as he says, why does his draft plan allow logging and mining?”
“By attempting to shrink the TWWHA and open it up to the loggers and miners Mr Groom has shown that he cannot be trusted as its temporary custodian,” Mr McKim said.