Greens call for government to reveal all on ‘sneaky’ park projects

REVELATIONS the government had kept secret dozens of projects proposed in national parks were further evidence of a ”stinky exploitative process” that had little public support, the Greens say.

It has been revealed that there have been 60 proposals made under the controversial Expressions of Interest process since 2016, although the details of just 29 have been made public.

Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said the entire process was secretive and sneaky.

“Where are the remaining proposals, and at what scale? What assurances have been made to potential developers? What values will be compromised by developers to make a profit at the expense of wilderness?

“The EOI process not only degrades wilderness, it undermines the tourism industry and the hard won … clean green brand.

“Rather than supporting businesses around the state in an open and transparent way, the Liberals have been running dodgy backroom deals through the Office of the Co-ordinator General.”

Among the proposals revealed to date as a Dark Lab pavilion at Ida Bay, private huts in the Walls of Jerusalem and a controversial standing camp plan at Lake Malbena.

Premier Peter Gutwein defended the government's policy of allowing some development in national parks.

“We know from the Auditor General … when he reviewed that process, he found an effective and robust and their process continues,” he said.

“It’s more transparent than any policy that has ever been run by a Tasmanian government in the past. Go back 10 years ago and go back 20 years ago, and the first people knew about these sorts of developments was when they were … underway.

“What we have now is a process where people can bring forward their intellectual property where that can be assessed, any red flags can be understood and if it’s a decision made to proceed, then they go through the full planning process, both Australian government, Tasmanian government and local if necessary.”