Matthew Denholm The Australian
“It makes my blood boil that while existing parks infrastructure in Tasmania is in desperate need of refurbishment, the Government can find $23 million for a tourist link road through the Tarkine,” Mr Bell said.
TASMANIA’S parks and reserves are the jewels in the island state’s tourist crown, but there are claims the “clean and green” marketing hides a dirty secret.
Despairing community and green groups say Tasmania’s Parks and Wildlife Service is shamefully starved of funds and failing to maintain the vast areas for which it has responsibility.
Outside the main tourist drawcards of Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair and Freycinet national parks, some walking tracks are ina woeful state, they say, and there is no money for basic maintenance.
The state’s rangers struggle to deal with track maintenance and threats as diverse as invading weeds, four-wheel-drive hoons and careless dog owners.
An analysis by the Tasmanian Conservation Trust presented to the state Government for budget deliberations concludes that the situation is “embarrassing” for a state that bases its international image on its natural beauty.
TCT chief executive Christian Bell said the degree of neglect was “shameful” and that many of Tasmania’s natural and economic assets were “rapidly degrading”.
“There is a disjunction between the message sent out in international tourism marketing and the reality,” Mr Bell said.
“People believe that Tasmania is clean and green and they expect to see the message matched by the reality, but it seems the Government doesn’t want to invest in matching message and reality.”
The problem can be seen by visitors and locals alike in every region of the state.
Those walking the increasingly popular South Coast track or Frenchman’s Cap complain about the poor state of sections of the track, while locals seeking funds to maintain smaller conservation areas are turned away.
Residents outraged by four-wheel-drives trashing fragile coastal ecosystems — from the Tarkine in the west to the Bay of Fires in the east — complain of rangers not having the resources to intervene.
While the Government promises funds for new money-making luxury walks, such as the proposed $15 million Three Capes Track on the Tasman Peninsula, and a tourist road through the Tarkine rainforest, existing infrastructure is being neglected.
“It makes my blood boil that while existing parks infrastructure in Tasmania is in desperate need of refurbishment, the Government can find $23 million for a tourist link road through the Tarkine,” Mr Bell said.
