Cassy O’Connor MP | Greens Leader and Parks spokesperson
The case against the proposal for helicopter-accessed luxury huts at Lake Malbena in the World Heritage Area grows stronger by the day.
Released by the Wilderness Society today, the wilderness assessment by respected scientist, Martin Hawes, confirms the wilderness values of Halls Island and its surrounds will be entirely lost if this proposal goes ahead. It will degrade wilderness values in the area around the standing camp, helicopter landing site and in the Walls of Jerusalem National Park.
Martin Hawes’ science-based assessment confirms the Lake Malbena proposal puts both wilderness and cultural heritage values at risk.
In their drafting of the new Management Plan for the TWWHA, the Liberals made much of Aboriginal heritage and the importance of involving Tasmania’s first people in management of the TWWHA. Yet we see in submissions to the Federal Government, the Aboriginal Heritage Council strongly opposed the development at Lake Malbena in the Walls of Jerusalem National Park.
Their voice, along with the voice of dozens of fly fishers and walkers have been absolutely ignored. It’s an insult to the Aboriginal community, and to every Tasmanian who do not support the desecration and privatisation of parts of the World Heritage Area.
The constituency of concern about the proposal at Lake Malbena and the Liberals’ EOI process is expansive and extends far beyond the Green movement.
The individuals and groups who have come out in opposition to the proposal in the Walls of Jerusalem National Park would not call themselves ‘greenies’ but they are prepared to defend the wilderness they love.