Save Ralphs Bay
SAVE Ralphs Bay Inc. will hold a Community Forum in the Lauderdale Hall at 7.30pm tonight, Wednesday 11th March.

Dr. Eric Woehler (Birds Tasmania), and representatives of Save Ralphs Bay Inc. will provide information relating to the impacts of the proposed Lauderdale Quay canal estate development, and how to make a submission to the RPDC. They will also answer questions from the audience.

“It’s amazing to think that Save Ralphs Bay Inc. is nearing its 5th anniversary”, said SRB Chair, Bill Edmunds. “The group was formed following a public meeting in the Lauderdale Hall on the 17th of March 2004 and here we are still, almost five years on.

“Little did we know back in 2004 that we would have to wait all these years before the proponent finally lodged its Draft Integrated Impact Statement (DIIS). Of course, there’s been plenty of water under the bridge since then, including the infamous Ralphs Bay Conservation Area
(Clarification) Act 2006, by means of which the state government attempted to excise the sandflats from our Ralphs Bay Conservation Area, long before the integrated impact assessment of the proposal even began.

“Supporters of the campaign to save Ralphs Bay from this destructive land grab will fight hard to protect our Conservation Area, our shorebirds and our peaceful vistas across the bay towards Mt. Wellington. All these are threatened by the Walker Corporation’s proposal to excavate 52% of the sandflats at Lauderdale at the commencement of an orgy of destruction which will not end until 2028, if the DIIS is to be believed.”

“The proposed assault on this critical shorebird feeding, roosting and nesting habitat is unconscionable,” said Dr. Woehler. “You really have to question the ethics of a proposal to eradicate such a vast area of critical wetland habitat so that a developer can create artificial waterfront building blocks for the wealthy.”

“Save Ralphs Bay Inc. has a small army of experts slogging through the task of analysing the Draft Integrated Impact Statement”, said SRB’s Submission Coordinator, Jane MacDonald. “They tell us there is plenty there to question, and we will be defending the natural, social and aesthetic values of Ralphs Bay with a good supply of ammunition,”

— Save Ralphs Bay Inc. : www.SaveRalphsBay.org —