Please let’s stop Hobart going to hell in a handbag
Ron Christie says Tasmania’s capital is under siege from chaotic development
HOW do we control and sustain progress? I fear the beauty and community fabric of Hobart Town as we know it is disintegrating. Swallowed by uncontrollable progress.
He can’t say that, he’s anti-progress, get rid of him, croak the corporates. Prior my banishment to the political wilderness, thank you to the 1100 Hobartians who contributed to the recent publication of our City’s 10 year Community Vision strategy. Twelve months ago Richard Flanagan wrote in this paper that “there is one square mile of old Hobart, Battery Point, Salamanca, South, West, North Hobart, the Glebe and City Centre — that forms Australia’s only remaining historic city. Why would we risk losing it?”
He is right, but sadly we are losing it.
I have mentioned we are experiencing growth never before experienced in our 214 year history. The Macquarie Point development, TasPorts Masterplan, 22 new hotels, cable car, university relocation, swimming pools on Castray, and more.
Why this recent insatiable appetite for progress? Is it sustainable and who controls it? The recent announcement of a statewide master plan for TasPorts, although light on detail, should be welcomed in principle, particularly in areas of freight and Antarctica, yet cautiously examined in the area of cruise ships. “Three’s a crowd” reads the Mercury headline. Do we want three superliners shadowing our city in one day?
Our city cannot sustain a swarm of 10,000 to 15,000 passengers — 62 ships will arrive this season and our city will be impacted significantly. Within the next five years 80 to 90 ships will visit — during the season an average of a ship every day and a half.
Globally, 26 million passengers will travel on 314 cruise ships this season and it is growing at a rate of 4 per cent annually.
Norway’s fjords are becoming polluted by tourists on cruise ships and the community is calling on electric cruise ships and reduction in fossil fuels.
Cruise ships are going to bring these problems here. TasPorts, with no control on arrivals, only do their best to accommodate, while Bob Clifford with respect, says build, promote, sell. That’s his business.
What is happening at Macquarie Point? Is there a master plan? Reconciliation Art Park, Antarctic HQ, and now the concept for a pub and retail in shipping containers. Nine hectares of real estate, no master plan and no mention of a residential component, which our city and community is screaming out for.
UTAS is buying up where it can, concerning for several traders, but bringing life into the heart of our city with 1100 residential students over the next 18 months. Swimming pools on Castray look interesting as a public open space but that’s just what it is, a concept, while entrepreneurial sharks swim nearby.
Life in Hobart is not about money, it’s about community. It’s not about skyscrapers, cable cars or mass influx of tourists, it’s about what we want for our city, our lifestyle and how we can sustain it. This is what 1100 members of greater Hobart just told us in the Community Vision strategy. It’s documented, they want it enacted. So while community talks about what they want whether it’s here in our city or on the East Coast, who is listening? What’s the answer to control and sustain growth? The Editor of this paper stated leadership is the only answer. Knowledge and wisdom is not gained by talking. Great leaders are great listeners. Premier Hodgman, Minister Gutwein, me and other elected members must step up to the plate, listen more to communities and act. If we do not, send us packing to the political wilderness. I won’t feel so alone.