Ms O'CONNOR question to PREMIER, Mr HODGMAN
After five years of being cheered on by your Government, supported by the public resources of State Growth and enabled by legislation that was supported by every Liberal and Labor member in this place, the Mt Wellington Cableway Company has launched its development application to Hobart City Council. In the odd scenario that council responds to overwhelming public opposition to this project and its many planning failures and rejects the development application, will you rule out using parliament or any other mechanism to defy the will of council and the people to further your Government's pet project?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Clark for her question. It is true that the Government has, for a long time, supported the concept of a cable car on the mountain. We have certainly welcomed the interest that has been shown and acknowledge that, while not everyone agrees with it, there are many Tasmanians who do support a cable car but we have said from day one that it needs to obtain all of the necessary approvals. It has to stand on its own feet -
Ms O'Connor - It never has.
Mr HODGMAN - The Government has said previously that we would not provide financial support to it and we should ensure that it is sustainable. It needs to be environmentally sustainable and it needs to be economically and financially sustainable as well. We have also said from day one that it should be assessed through proper process. The Greens, who so often complain about processes and assert all sorts of things about processes, most of which are not true, would be the people who would have us interfere and intervene in the process -
Ms O'CONNOR - Point of order, Madam Speaker. The Premier is ignoring the question and misrepresenting our position. We are not asking you to intervene. We are asking you not to intervene if council rejects the development application.
Madam SPEAKER - That is not a point of order, but I am sure the Premier -
Mr HODGMAN - Thank you, Madam Speaker. We have no intention of doing so. We believe it is about time that this project, which has been on the drawing board for years, is finally allowed to be assessed by the appropriate planning authority, the Hobart City Council. We look forward with interest to seeing how that progresses and we acknowledge the efforts of the proponents in getting the project to this point.