Dear Mountain lovers,
On Sunday we had a well attended meeting of Friends of the Mountain to discuss the Tasmanian Government’s “mountain review”. The Fern Tree Community Centre was overflowing with many attendees in the courtyard. Speakers urged everyone to take part in the review either by doing the survey or making a submission or both.
The importance of getting responses from overwhelming numbers who care about the mountain was stressed. This will mean not just making responses ourselves but also reaching out to friends.
We need to tell the Government:
How important the mountain is to us.
We do not want further development within the Wellington Park and certainly not a cableway over the Organ Pipes or a restaurant, visitor centre or sundry tourist outlets at the Pinnacle.
The solution to transport congestion on the Pinnacle Road is not a cable car. After all, much of the Pinnacle Road traffic is to the Springs.
It is best served by developing a visitor centre outside the Park. This would allow for visitors to park and ride. Visitors unfamiliar with the mountain would be able to gain insights into the natural values and an understanding of the diverse opportunities to enjoy the Park.
Under current arrangements most tourists will only have seen photos of the view from the Pinnacle. We have anticipated that Mount Wellington Cableway Company would campaign for their supporters to participate in the review to push their views. Yesterday they did just that. They even produced a detailed guide showing how they would like their supporters to respond. This makes it doubly important that we muster all of our voices to respond to this survey and/or make a submission. The survey can be found here;www.moutainreview.tas.gov.au
Whilst we think the more personalised the response the better, the Tasmanian Greens have produced a tool you may wish to use, either as a template or as an inspiration for your own response. It is here; do gooder submission portal
In other disturbing news the Liberal/Labor coalition pushed the Government’s DAP Bill through the Legislative Assembly last Thursday. It was opposed by all of the cross-bench. If this gets through the Legislative Council it will make it easier for developers to get dodgy projects through the approval process. There would be no merits appeal rights and decisions about the mountain would be taken away from our Council. You can read more about it here: planning matterstas.org.au
The Bill will likely be debated in the Legislative Council on Thursday 28 th of November. The good news is that Labor and Liberal have only 7 of the 15 seats in the L.C., so adding your voice to the many already lobbying Legislative Councillors on the issue may well see it defeated.
Below is a list of emails for Legislative Councillors:
bec.thomas@parliament.tas.gov.au;
cassy.oconnor@parliament.tas.gov.au;
dean.harriss@parliament.tas.gov.au; rosemary.armitage@parliament.tas.gov.au;
tania.rattray@parliament.tas.gov.au;
michael.gaffney@parliament.tas.gov.au;
ruth.forrest@parliament.tas.gov.au;
meg.webb@parliament.tas.gov.au;
luke.edmunds@parliament.tas.gov.au;
kerry.vincent@parliament.tas.gov.au;
jo.palmer@parliament.tas.gov.au;
sarah.lovell@parliament.tas.gov.au;
nick.duigan@parliament.tas.gov.au
craig.farrell@parliament.tas.gov.au;
leonie.hiscutt@parliament.tas.gov.au;
(The last 7 are Liberal and Labor.)
In summary:
1. Please respond to the survey at www.mountainreview.tas.gov.au before it closes on the 4th of December. Encourage your friends also!
2. Make a submission if you can. The Tasmanian Greens have produced a helpful guide: Do Gooder submission portal
3. If you are able to lobby Legislative Councillors, before they vote on Thursday 28th of November, to reject the governments DAP legislation that will also be helpful.
Once again, thank you for all that you do to protect our mountain.
Phil Stigant
For Residents Opposed to the Cable Car
