Yesterday Lives
REGARDING “Let’s have a capital idea” by Simon Bevilacqua ( Mercury, May 12), Tasmania is made up of two types of people. Type A were born here, never left the island and will continue to live here for the rest of their lives and Type B, those who came from elsewhere and settled here. It’s apparent that Type A want Tasmania left as it’s always been, they feel safe and secure with peace of mind nothing is going to take their vision of yesterday. England is a lot like that, if it wasn’t for the outside influences from European countries.
Argue till the cows come home about a cable car, a port or highway. Staunch opposition will fight tooth and nail to prevent it happening, closed minds, closed vision.
On the other hand, Type B has been there, seen it, experienced it, and seen the benefits of progressive living. I’m one of them. I’ve visited countries that have barely a penny to their name and yet have had the vision that brings others from around the world who are in awe at what they have created. Tasmania has no vision. Spout off all the rhetoric you like about
Third World
BUSINESSMAN James Neville-Smith, when opening his multimillion-dollar The New Castaways resort at Mission Beach recently, was quoted saying that Mission Beach should have its beautiful natural assets preserved. However, it appears OK for him to build a woodchip port in Dover? There are many reasons why this cannot be allowed to go ahead. Will Hodgman was recently spruiking the value of Tasmania’s fast-growing tourism industry, so why has he allowed Crown Land to be granted to Neville-Smith for this proposal? Is it a done deal? Sadly, our Liberal Government’s behaviour makes me feel like we are living in a Third World country.
Wild at heart
MT Wellington/kunanyi is a wild place. There are many cities around the world that sit beneath a mountain and many of these have cable cars, restaurants and hotels. Every day we lose wilderness to tourism and development. Why should we lose more? Let us consider the tourists of the future. They will travel to many places with cable cars, but how many cities with untouched natural wilderness and mountains will they visit? Tasmanians need to protect our wild rugged nature, as this is what makes Tasmania special. The era of untracked development and growth must come to an end if we are to create any future for ourselves and generations to come. We must start today with the cable car up kunanyi. Tasmania is a wild place and kunanyi is an icon of this. The great calling card of future Tasmanian tourism will be our wilderness. The choice is ours to make now.
But what about the growing number of tourists? How is our mountain going to accommodate these people without a cable car? There will always be growth, and opportunities to capitalise on this. When will we say no to the exploitation of our natural monuments? When they want to put a hotel at the top? How about we start today and respect Tasmania as one of the last untouched wildernesses. If we pursue tourism at the expense of our wilderness, we will no longer be The Natural State but just another over-developed city, having lost what made us special.
Solace to us all
READER Sandra Nemet writes of a cable car in Croatia which has “a beautiful Grotto of Our Lady, where one can pray in solace” (Letters, May 16). Without a cable car, in its pristine natural state, our mountain gives solace to us all, whatever our beliefs. It does not need a specific place dedicated to one specific religion.