Tourism boss OK with secret deals

INTENSE public scrutiny had the potential to scare off developers who wanted to pursue projects on public land, the state’s tourism industry chief says.

His comment came after Environment and Parks Minister Peter Gutwein said proposals for developments in national parks being pursued through the Government’s expressions of interest process would only be made public once they were approved to proceed to lease and licence negotiations. None has been revealed since the second round of the process opened in December 2016.

“Proponents in the nature tourism sector are looking very closely at this debate, and weighing up whether the intense public scrutiny is worth it,” Tourism Industry Council Tasmania CEO Luke Martin.

In a post on the social media site Twitter, Mr Martin accused the Mercury of having “a broader agenda about transparency in government”.

“All the EOI does is provide a transparent way for government to make details of unsolicited proposals public, and give proponents a commitment their intellectual property will be protected, and their proposal will be assessed within a reasonable time frame.”

He said the process gave the government the ability to give developments the “green light”, but was not final approval.

“Contrary to the reporting in today’s media, projects going through the EOI process are not ‘approved’ when details are first made public,” he said.

“All the EOI assessment process does is give the green light for proponents to start the long legislated assessment process under both state and federal legislation.”

No project which has passed through the EOI process has yet been refused a lease or licence. The terms and conditions of the leases and licences, which grant exclusive rights over public land, are not made public and are exempt from Right to Information laws.

Auditor-General Rod Whitehead is conducting an inquiry into the EOI process and his report is expected soon.

The audit will assess oversight and co-ordination and whether the Government has followed its own legal advice on the scheme.

Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said she was looking forward to the outcome of the investigation, saying that the process “stinks”.

“It takes a special kind of arrogance and contempt for transparency for Mr Gutwein to run the ‘trust me’ line,” she said.

“These are public protected areas we’re talking about, not the personal playthings of the Liberals and their developer friends.”