Cable car slap over ’lack of respect’

Bid’s heritage hurdle

THE proponent of the Mt Wellington cable car project had shown a continued lack of respect for Indigenous heritage, the Greens say.

Mount Wellington Cableway Company is considering its next move after the Resource Management and Planning Appeals Tribunal ruled it had failed to satisfactorily assess the project’s potential impact on Indigenous heritage.

The company will have to provide more information to Hobart City Council to progress its development application.

Tasmanian Greens Leader Cassy O’Connor welcomed the tribunal’s ruling.

“Of course they don’t want to have to look for Aboriginal heritage, in case they find some,” she said.

“MWCC’s disregard for Aboriginal heritage has been, in large part, fostered by Liberal government facilitation of their divisive, destructive cable car proposal.

“It’s little wonder the proponents believe they have a right to public – and critically, First People’s – land when the Liberals, backed in by Labor, have done everything within their power to gift it to them.”

MWCC chair Chris Oldfield rejected the claims.

“We respect the original custodians of kunanyi/Mount Wellington and have guaranteed that strong protocols are in place to protect any Aboriginal heritage that may be discovered within the project footprint route,’’ he said.

Planning Minister Roger Jaensch has ruled out using recently passed major project laws to help the proposal.

“We’ve said we won’t. The proponent hasn’t asked for it. Hobart City Council’s quite competent to deal with that application and they need to work through the process,” he said.

“As with any process like this, the proponent needs to meet all requirements and jump through all the hoops that are put in front of them. So that’s a matter now for the proponent to address in the Hobart City Council.”

Residents Opposed to the Cable Car spokesman Vica Bayley said: “This appeal demonstrates the cable car proponent still fails to understand the Aboriginal significance of kunanyi and is an indictment on its approach to achieve approval and a social license.

“This proponent wasted time and money on prosecuting an attempt to low-bar its Aboriginal heritage assessment. This appeal will go down as another embarrassing failure for the cable car developer.”