Up to us to safeguard it
TASMANIANS were tickled pink when David Attenborough shone a spotlight on our distinctive natural habitats and species. Tall trees, Tasmanian devils, wombats and the brilliant blue freshwater crayfish were among the stars of the show. Members of our government are only too happy to ride on the coat-tails of this free marketing, but are responsible for signing off on the continued degradation of our most valuable tourism brand: wilderness. Dam-blocking, unprofitable logging in the ancient forests of the Tarkine and potential clear-felling of East Coast reserves are set to negatively impact our nearest and dearest critters and the land they inhabit. Let Attenborough’s narration be a reminder, Tasmania is an extraordinary island, but our wilderness is not infinite and evidently it’s up to us to safeguard it.
Refusal rate very low
ALDERMAN Tanya Denison’s quoted claim that Hobart’s housing crisis has at least in part been caused by the unreasonable refusal of dozens of development applications by some Hobart City Council aldermen deserves comment ( Mercury, June 6). A search of development applications before the Hobart City Council in the 2016/2017 financial year (source: The Government website, List Data, The List, Open data, CDC), shows that of all applications involving Discretionary Use (requiring a decision by council planners and/or aldermen), only nine applications out of 671, or a miserly 1.34 per cent were actually refused.
It seems to me a refusal rate of 1.34 per cent of development applications hardly constitutes “consistent extreme idealism to resist inner-city development”, in fact, the complete opposite.
Crowd depends on team
IT was only a matter of time before reader Mick Leppard gave the South, namely Hobart, the capital, a judgment on the crowd at Blundstone Arena for the North Melbourne versus GWS game. Is Mick aware that GWS has a paltry 98 members in Tassie? This hardly augers well for a blockbuster crowd and I am sure Launceston would attract no more than the Hobart crowd with GWS on offer. It should be noted also that in Hobart patrons are only delivered a match with general footy entertainment but Launceston gets the trifecta; footy game, boxing match of both sexes and a demonstration of the Ambulance Service at its best. Even Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett voiced his disgust at the behaviour of some at this Launceston game.
I was at this game, a mere 10 metres from the fracas as a paid-up, proud and passionate Hawthorn member but on this day certainly not a proud Tasmanian.
People of peace
THANK you for publishing Professor Randall Doyle’s excellent article on the tragic 1968 assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy (Talking Point, June 6). It’s essential that great and courageous people of peace are remembered and valued. Sadly, non-violent activism and real peace are often felt as a threat by the status quo and the state. We’ve seen this recently in Tasmania with the anti-protest laws and arrogant actions such as the Hodgman government destroying the hard-won forest peace agreement.
In this year’s election we saw that the same government is prepared to sell out to the gun lobby for a few preferences. We mustn’t let America’s gun culture infiltrate our politics. Guns kill, as the assassination of these brilliant men of peace so starkly shows.