Protect our state’s natural gems
THE Parks and Wildlife Service has come up with a list of criticisms of the massive commercial accommodation building proposed to be built at Lake Rodway in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, and yet the proponents for the private development say that they will press ahead with their plans.
How can this happen?
The Parks and Wildlife Service is the authority with the legislated responsibility to manage and look after our national parks and reserves, on behalf of the Tasmanian people.
In other words, they should call the shots. And if they don’t, who does?
A recent nationwide survey of 1122 adult Australians found that an overwhelming majority of respondents support the traditional rationale for national parks as places to enjoy nature, and that nearly 80 per cent oppose development in parks and protected areas.
Our national parks and conservation reserves exist only because of selfless and visionary people who recognised the priceless natural heritage we have here in Tasmania and fought hard for these places to be protected.
And yet our state government offers up these precious places as a goldmine for developers. Catharine Errey
Lutana
WASTED OPPORTUNITIES
LAST week without warning (July 14) our green waste failed to be collected. These bins have sat on the footpath now for over a week. It appears to affect the whole municipality.
On July 21 our recycling and general waste bins were also not collected, so that means many homes have three bins out on the footpath. It’s unsightly and in many cases these bins were full so no more waste can go into them.
I had a look at Clarence City Council website and they acknowledge the problem but offer no explanation. The CCC will, however, accept disposal of green waste and recycling but not general rubbish at the Mornington Tip. My problem is how do I get them there?
As with a lot of people my car is too small to fit a wheelie bin into. This is a very poorly thought out solution. Weekends at the tip are busy, let alone the extra traffic generated by this idea.
According to the CCC web page it will be August 1 when the service will be resumed.
Mark Pearce Howrah
QUESTION OF AGE
I MUST have missed the announcement that 17-year-olds were now to be known as children.
I joined the armed forces at the age of 17 years and two months, having already been in the workforce for over one year. While still 17, I served in an “active service” area and have a decoration for this.
If I was actually a child at the time, should I ask for Legal Aid to take the government to the World Court for sending a child into a war zone? What a farce!
Doug Pigot East Devonport
COUNTING THE COST
IS it any wonder that people on a pension, disadvantaged or low income choose not to seek medical advice from a GP, instead calling Ambulance Tasmania, or presenting at the emergency department of the nearest hospital?
I had need to have a GP consultation in order to obtain a script for upcoming surgery, but no appointments available, so a phone consultation was recommended. I accepted and at a predetermined
time the call arrived and had a duration of four minutes and 35 seconds. It cost $74, and that was after the receptionist informed me that the doctor had taken $20 off. Come in, suckers.
Erik van Beest West Moonah
REDUCE OUR EMISSIONS
I RECENTLY released a report that found native-forest logging is the highest-emitting sector in the state.
Its emissions are 4.65 million tonnes of carbon per year, which is 2.5 times the emissions of the Tasmanian transport sector.
A letter to the editor by Dr Michelle Freeman on July 21 suggested that my findings could not be trusted because my report had not been “peer reviewed”.
Dr Freeman is referring to a process that only scientific papers
undergo. These are articles published in specific journals which are aimed at scientists and often have restricted access. My report was designed to inform the public, it’s a completely different style of report.
Most public reports are not formally peer-reviewed. This doesn’t mean that their findings are false or haven’t undergone extensive feedback from experts.
My report, Tasmania’s Forest Carbon: from Emission Disaster to Climate Solution, had feedback from more than 15 scientists.
This included Australian forest carbon experts, forest ecologists and atmospheric scientists. This is a far more rigorous review than the standard two experts that review scientific papers.
Dr Michelle Freeman is trying to imply that my findings can’t be trusted, which is not true.
The reality is that native-forest logging is Tasmania’s number one climate issue. To pretend otherwise is extremely dangerous.
It’s not different from fossil-fuel companies misleading the public on the impacts of burning coal and oil.
About 90 per cent of our timber already comes from plantations.
Native-forest logging is not necessary to our economy and only employs 0.4 per cent of the Tasmanian workforce.
Western Australia is ending native-forest logging and is investing in sustainable plantations, which will create forestry jobs for those in the native forest sector.
Let’s do the same for Tasmania. We are in a climate emergency and we need to be doing all we can to reduce our emissions.
Dr Jennifer Sanger Scientist, The Tree Projects