Easily destroyed
ANYONE who has passed the work area for the Remembrance Bridge will have noticed the area cleared in the compound for the workmen. This will be compounded on Mt Wellington/kunanyi with the building of the cable car and development on the mountaintop. Two per cent of Tasmania is covered with alpine vegetation, 56 per cent of all Australian alpine vegetation is in Tasmania. It is easily destroyed but takes decades to recover. It is very slow-growing and has a short growing season. It has many natural stresses: severe wind, extreme temperatures, poor thin soil, introduced invasive species and plant pathogens. Climate change is a threat with increased short-wave UV radiation, drying ground and greater fire risk. Having taken the cable car to Grouse Mountain, Vancouver, we observed the hum and vibration of the cable car as it docked, percussion to the music from the restaurant. A large paved area behind the main building was for dining. Another small building had music piped to the outdoors advertising a rope course, a ski slope had been cleared and a chairlift ran to it. There was a cleared area for machinery. Trees beneath the cableway had to be trimmed. The whole area was a busy, noisy mess. I am afraid the development on our mountain would be the thin end of the wedge and the mountain as we know it will be lost to those who love it as it is.
Helping commuters
I WOULD care to respond to John Hunt regarding the roadworks along the Channel Highway between Taroona and Kingston (Letters, November 22). Yes, there is a loss of native vegetation and thence a degraded visual amenity, yet the advantage of the road widening is increased road safety. The issue of cost can always be raised. But given the heavy usage, particularly when the Southern Outlet is gridlocked, the Channel Highway becomes the saving link for commuters, and here is the defining benefit of this road widening.
Old enough
WHY wouldn’t we do everything we can to make sure people aren’t putting dangerous drugs into their bodies. It’s the sentiment of those who see concert-going substance abusers as young people who aren’t capable of doing just that for themselves. Why should those other than the drug-takers and the drug-dealers be ex- pected to provide a quality control service that risks even more “young” people’s lives by giving them a false sense of security? I say “young” but clearly still old enough to attend adult concerts and behave in adult ways and to buy adult drugs. Strange then that they aren’t considered adult enough — as in old enough — to accept responsibility for their own deplorable decisions. Others have observed that drug-taking at concerts, festivals and other like events is like playing Russian roulette. I think that might be taking things a little too far, given a recent survey revealed five out of every six respondents thought Russian roulette was perfectly safe. Not a high-calibre joke, I agree. But then, the idea of testing illegal drugs so that concert goers can consume them seems an even poorer joke when it comes right down to it.
Up in the air
I HEARD the Federal Government wants to send all convicted terrorists home if they come from a foreign place. A very good idea! So authorities put the person on a Qantas plane back home. At the home airport, authorities refuse to accept the person and put the terrorist on the next Qantas plane back to Australia. In Australia the person is rejected and put on the next Qantas plane back home. And so on. Subject to the quality of airline food, this is probably a better method of permanent detention than Manus Island and probably a lot cheaper.