Track challenges

MARTIN Hawes is commended on his article on how precious it is for Tasmania to retain the world’s remaining temperate wilderness (Talking Point, August 28). A $3 million grant for job creation was awarded to build six luxury huts on the South Coast Track. Currently it’s hut-free and the seven-day walk challenges experienced walkers traversing this World Heritage Area wilderness. A private company will be gifted profit to enable a few wealthy, chiefly non-Tasmanians to experience it in comfort, when this wilderness was saved for preservation by conservationists and the UN.

The project claims to bring opportunities to southern Tasmania. Yet walkers would be flown to Melaleuca and bussed from Cockle Creek to Hobart, delivering minimal jobs. In April we found the track arduous, wading through kilometres of mud with numerous deep creek crossings, so the walk would be limited to summer. For this project to succeed, greater track work is necessary. Does the State Government plan to invest significant money? Increased walker demand necessitates public huts, forever desecrating this treasured, fragile wilderness and remoteness. wearing of colours will not change who the person is. Surely there are enough laws to control the criminal element in bikie groups. Another law the Government is trying to legalise is the associating with criminals in bikie groups. That means families of bikies who gather could be in trouble if two have criminal records. Certainly there is an element in the bikie culture that is anti-community and corrupt but do not tar all who ride bikes as being in that category. Think of the toy run. car travels through the Davey St intersection, they travel 100m and pass two sets of traffic lights to Macquarie St. All three lanes on the Outlet can take this route. If one turns left onto Huon Rd as the design hopes, the distance to the same spot on Macquarie St is 450m and they pass through three sets of lights. To enable this excursion, there is a loss of 20-plus parking spots on Davey and Elboden, and two new sets of lights. The plan states there are eight new parking spots on Macquarie St in the one-way section travelling North. By my count walking to work, the eight already exist! Nothing new except the cars will be pointing in the opposite direction.