Malbena bid to face strict assessment
THE Federal Government has been ordered to assess a proposal for a helicopter-serviced tourist development in World Heritage wilderness in the state’s central highlands.
The Federal Court has made final orders after a court action brought by the Wilderness Society over the proposed Lake Malbena development.
The Environmental Defenders Office said the Government was now required to make a decision to approve or reject the plan under the requirements of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
The court last month declared that the original decision that federal approval was not required was flawed, and ordered it be quashed. “At the very least, this project must now go through a full and detailed assessment, allowing Tasmanians to have a say on what happens in their World Heritage Area,” EDO principal lawyer Nicole Sommer said.
“The Environment Minister’s new decision will be a test as to whether the Government will wave through development in World Heritage Areas.
“If private development of a World Heritage Area — on public land and in the heart of the wilderness — is not deemed to be clearly unacceptable, or doesn’t even need approval to proceed, then we have to ask serious questions about the process.”
The Wilderness Society has provided additional evidence to the Government about the development’s noise and wilderness impacts. Around 200 people are expected to attend protest action in the central highlands on Saturday.
Reclaim Malbena spokesman Greg French said Aboriginal, bushwalking, fishing, environmental and guiding groups were all against the proposal.
“We believe it has the potential to set dangerous precedents for a flood of similar secret and controversial private developments within Tasmania’s most important and treasured assets,” he said.
“These private, profit-driven developments will not only ruin the natural amenity of the Tasmanian Wilderness WHA, they will forever destroy the integrity of the very wilderness values that attract so many tourists to our state in the first place.”