CABLE CAR PLAN WITLESS

AT a time of uncertainty regarding our future, environmentally and economically, it is unforgivable that pork-barrelling is as rife as it is. Most of us, irrespective of any partisan leanings, were sickened by the Bridget McKenzie sports rorts affair, but closer to home is a similar rort: the recklessness of the federal government’s offer of partfunding for the harebrained Cradle Mountain cable car development: a proposal foolish beyond any considered reasoning.

To begin with, this fantastical, concept is not necessary. Even the non-argument that rising tourist numbers necessitates a cable car is indefensible.

Over 600 000 tourists visit Denali National Park in Alaska each year and the only way to access its interior is by the humble shuttle bus; it has been thus for 50 years. The shuttle bus was introduced to the park to protect its natural values; we should be doing the same.

The deliberate withholding of the Cradle Mountain Transportation Study is telling as it is fairly obvious what it will say. The shuttle bus system is perfectly workable, and what is needed.

The imposition of an industrialesque cableway on one of the most wonderful places in Tasmania will destroy the natural values of this World Heritage Area forever. It is divisive, destructive, ugly and unnecessary.

Chris Bell Fern Tree