At the end of October we sent you an email regarding the State Government’s plan to introduce Development Assessment Panels.
If you have not done so already please consider making a submission. This government needs to hear loud and clear:
keep planning local and democratic
don’t take planning away from Local Government
don’t give the Minister the power to change the Local Planning Scheme
Submissions close at 5pm on the 30th of November.
Planning Maters Alliance Tasmania have issued a bulletin which you may find helpful in making a submission. Click here.
Thank you for all that you do to protect the mountain.
We shouldn’t have to be writing to you about this. In November 2022 TASCAT affirmed the decision of the Hobart City Council to reject the proposal for a cable car across the Organ Pipes and a large tourist centre/restaurant near the Pinnacle. That should have been the end of it but…
– on the 28th of February this year Premier Rockliff had this to say at the ‘State of the State Address’:“I am committed not only to the Cradle Valley Cableway, but also a cableway on Kunanyi/Mt Wellington, and I have sought advice on developing a pathway to support this to happen.”
Now we can see what that pathway is. Planning Minister Ferguson made the attached statement on the 19th of October.
This statement has a link to a position paper which makes interesting reading, not least due to the disparity between the acknowledged facts and the proposed response. By way of example, the following is from page 8:
“Despite the statistical evidence, there remains a perception that some Councils are less supportive of new development than others and that on occasion the personal views of elected councillors in relation to a proposed development, such as large-scale apartments, or social housing, may influence their decision-making despite being outside of the relevant planning scheme considerations they are bound to administer as part of the obligations of a planning authority.”
Of course we know that this “perception” is almost entirely driven by elements of the pro development lobby.
For most of us if our views do not accord with the evidence, it is time to modify our views. Not this government! They want to push through a change to planning law that could give developers the right to have their proposals assessed by a Development Assessment Panel instead of by Council. Furthermore, the Minister could be given authority to initiate changes to the Planning Scheme to make it more sympathetic to the development.
I would urge you to read the position paper attached and make a submission in response.
Submissions close 5pm on the 30th of November.
These proposals have already come up against a lot of community opposition. They had initially been part of the Review of Local Government but were withdrawn from that process presumably due to community backlash. Hence we need to drive home that community opposition now that they have reappeared.
Planning Matters Alliance Tasmania has put out the attached media release.
So, tedious though it is, we once more need to make our voices heard to protect the mountain. This time it is by fighting to retain local control over planning decisions.
At this stage that is by responding to the Position Paper. Late,r it may be by lobbying politicians.
If you don’t have the time to engage with the Position Paper you can still help by giving the State Planning Office the following feedback:
– Keep planning local and democratic.
– Don’t take planning away from Local Government.
– Don’t give the Minister the power to change the Local Planning Scheme.
Hello to all our supporters fighting to keep kunanyi cable car free.
Thank you Vica
First, I must say a huge thank you to Vica Bayley who, as the primary driver of our fight to stop the cable car in recent years, has been elected to the House of Assembly as a Greens member. We wish him the absolute best as he continues the fight to protect our wonderful lifestyle and environment.
Vica saw the process through TASCAT where the proponent exercised their right to appeal the HCC decision and, as we know they lost that appeal. The complexity of our legal representation and the processes of TASCAT were enormous and we thank Vica for his dedication to the mountain.
New Planning Body
The second issue to take us all by surprise was the announcement by the Rockliff government of a new planning body to by-pass the local council. While this announcement is seen by most as a weakening of our planning laws, we have been advised that a Mercury journalist was assured by a spokesperson for the government that the legislation would not be used to facilitate the cable car.
We will of course be holding them to that.
Wellington Park Management Plan Review
The most pressing issue for all of us now is the review of the Wellington Park Management Plan.
This could of course be an opportunity to strengthen the protections for the mountain against inappropriate developments but equally it could be used to water down those provisions of the previous plan which successfully saw the cable car DA rejected by both the council and the TASCAT.
ROCC will be putting in submissions at the various stages of this review. We note however that the last time the Wellington Park Trust altered the Plan was to approve a change to the Pinnacle Specific Area to accommodate the cable car proposal. This was done despite overwhelming opposition from the public. Indeed, at the end of the consultation process the Trust were heavily criticised by TASCAT but still approved the change to the plan. As you can no doubt tell I am sceptical of the process and its outcomes. Having said that we must participate and be diligent.
MWCC have publicly called for the Management Plan to be changed to suit the company’s purposes and the MWCC are actively encouraging people to use the Management Plan Review comment boxes to ask for the Plan to be changed to align with the cable car proposal.
I urge you to have a look at the Wellington Park Trust website https://wellingtonpark.org.au/step-1-park-values to understand the process and to take part. The process has started with a review of the values within the park. It takes the form of a survey.
In the comments section you might add your own comments like – “the Management Plan should be changed to explicitly prohibit a cable car across the Organ Pipes and prohibit construction of any large structures on the Pinnacle.”
If you feel the values that have been set out are wrong or not complete, then have your say. You can also make a more detailed submission adding values that you might feel are important. The review of values closes on 15th Sept 2023.
This process will take time and a draft management plan is not expected until early 2025.
Please get involved and thank you for being part of the continuing fight to protect the mountain.
Ted Cutlan
for Residents Opposed to the Cable Car
Due in this week!
We’ve ordered a new batch of the fantastic Dolerite not Dollars tshirts, so don’t miss out on your opportunity to get one.
Tasmanians have woken up to the 2023 Parliamentary year with Premier Jeremy Rockliff pledging to bypass proper process, sideline the decision of the independent planning adjudicator and find some special new ‘pathway’ to approve the odious kunanyi cable car.
Where does this end?
Despite pledging to govern with ‘heart’, the Premier’s desire to approve the cable car, against the science, planning advice and clear opposition of Hobartians and the Aboriginal Community signals his priorities ignore transparency, proper process and the protection of what makes the state special.
To make matters worse, his ‘Principal Adviser’ on tourism since 2019 (possibly the person responsible for giving advice on the ‘pathway’ to approval) has recently left his office and been appointed to Chair of the Mount Wellington Cableway Company.
Nepotism and farce is alive and well in Premier Rockliff’s Tasmania, as articulated in our joint release with the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre – see here.
We don’t yet know how Premier Rockliff proposes to sideline proper process and push through a cable car approval, but this is a perversity that we need to head off. Email local Liberal members Elise Archer and Madeline Ogilvie and cc the Premier Jeremy Rockliff and Labor Leader Rebecca White
Key points we’ll be making in our correspondence include that:
the development has been through the proper, statutory process, including the developer exercising its right to appeal and the cable car was comprehensively rejected on many diverse ground;
the cable car proposal assessed in the appeal before the independent planning tribunal was described by the proponent as its ‘best effort’ and all alternative routes and options had been thoroughly investigated and dismissed;
prolonging the cable car saga with special approval for the Premier’s mates will not succeed and simply further delay progress on genuine solutions to the tourist and visitor pressure facing the mountain;
we will never give up on protecting kunanyi.
Where this all goes is yet to play out, but how it ends is pretty predictable – increased community conflict, more time and money wasted and a complete loss of faith in process and politics. And no cable car, as we’ll never let it happen.
Email your political reps, get your signs back out and make a noise about kunanyi, what she means to you, and what you think of special political deals for a flawed, toxic proposal put forward by people who consistently show incompetence and a complete contempt for the interests of others.
For a cable car-free kunanyi
Residents Opposed to the Cable Car
PS – Visit the ROCC store and get your pro-Mountain merch out and about – see here
Like Respect the Mountain on Facebook and Instagram (@respectthemtn) – for daily posts and up-to-date actions
With your support Residents Opposed to the Cable Car joined the planning appeal proceedings in TASCAT and engaged expert evidence to make the case for the values of kunanyi/Mt Wellington and defend her against the cable car.
While we were successful, and TASCAT comprehensively rejected the slightly scaled-down development proposal, it may not be the end that it should be. Many of you would have seen the Rockliff Government, through a junior Minister, the Infrastructure Minister, and the Premier himself, declare their unwavering support for a cable car and urge the proponent to reconsider its plans and have another go.
No one really knows what this means. Is this just chest beating and posturing, or if Premier Rockliff is prepared to pervert proper process and bypass the conventional planning system by using its controversial Major Projects process or some other special deal to finally approve a project proven to be deficient?
Meanwhile, conversations have already started about the transport and other proposals that genuinely address issues associated with so many people visiting the Mountain. Aside from the perversion of proper process, if Premier Rockliff does step in with a special approval it will again displace and delay the exploration of genuine options for the Mountain, with the process and political debate again dominated by the cable car.
Have your say on the future of the Mountain. The Wellington Park Trust is consulting the public on its Draft Visitor and Recreation Strategy, an important document given the relentless visitor and tourism pressure the Mountain is under. Thankfully the strategy doesn’t mention a cable car and is largely a positive vision for public access to the Mountain. Have your say here.
Whatever happens in 2023, the TASCAT appeal process (described by the cable car proponent as its independent, non-biased chance for assessment) was a significant blow to the credibility and prospects of a cable car ever being built on the mountain.
As the year ends, we celebrate the TASCAT decision and stand ready for any new challenge that Premier Rockliff might concoct. Hopefully commonsense prevails and the TASCAT decision is
accepted and respected and progress is made on credible, compliant and socially acceptable options for visitor access and amenity on the Mountain.
A thousand thanks to you for your support over many years. Enjoy the Mountain these holidays and get on her slopes to celebrate the Christmas waratahs. Have your say on the future visitor strategy and stay loud and proud about keeping kunanyi cable car-free.
Residents Opposed to the Cable Car (ROCC) has welcomed the decision of Tasmania’s planning tribunal to refuse a permit for the development of a cable car on kunanyi/Mt Wellington, and now it’s time to celebrate and thank the many thousands of people who have joined the campaign to protect kunanyi/Mt Wellington.
