Be wary of next wave of wealthy promising to rescue us

Tourism is the latest target of those keen to take advantage, says Rosemary Sandford

OVER the decades, Tasmania’s economy and governments have been at the mercy of emissaries bearing wealth from across the sea, opportunists keen to take advantage of it, and locals appreciative of anything that comes their way.

Each wave of wealth-bearers claims to have the solution for lifting our island state out of poverty and unemployment and into the sunlit uplands of economic prosperity. Tasmanian governments have been relieved to be the beneficiaries of such largesse. In the 1970s and 1980s, hydroelectricity was to be the economic and social saviour. In the 1990s it was industrial scale forestry and export woodchips. More recently it has been industrialscale fish farming. In 2018 we have industrial-scale tourism. A single industry cannot provide the economic certainty and sustainability Tasmania seeks, and tourism is perhaps the most fickle industry of them all.

Sophie Underwood and Greg Lehman’s “Losing our home” (Talking Point, July 28) sums up the reach and power of chequebook persuasion and control. It also notes the consequences for state and local governments, industry sectors, businesses and communities that succumb to the lure of the dollar. Examples cited are: the mass resignation of the directors of Australia’s largest dairy, Moon Lake Investments at Woolnorth as a result of the foreign owner’s refusal to adequately fund farm operations; the sale of 3100ha of agricultural and coastal land to overseas interests for the construction of Cambria Green Estate, a huge East Coast resort development; and community rejection of the Fragrance Group’s skyscrapers proposed for Hobart.

Then there are these proposals: a golf course and 500 title subdivision at Orford; a golf course, subdivision and commercial precinct at Chain Of Lagoons; and another large tourism development in the St Helens area, details of which are not yet available.

Vast wealth and chequebook persuasion must never be allowed to replace integrity, transparency and accountability in a democracy such as Tasmania. What we are witnessing is wealth by stealth.

In June, the State Government announced it had awarded a 10-year contract to the SeaLink Travel Group to transport Bruny Islanders to and from their homes and move about 200,000 tourists to Bruny Island each year. A key component of SeaLink’s national and international business model is an online booking system.

The Government’s decision to support a tourism-based booking system was against the advice of a delegation of Bruny Islanders, supported by a public meeting of 200 people who resoundingly stated “No Booking System”. Experienced Tasmanian and interstate ferry operators also advocated for “no booking system”. Bruny Island is a community rather than primarily a mass market tourism destination and the ferry service is part of our state road system.

SeaLink is a vertically integrated, multimillion-dollar travel and marketing