WALKER CORP. TRIES TO DUCK UNDER THE RADAR AGAIN March 3, 2010

WALKER CORP. TRIES TO DUCK UNDER THE RADAR AGAIN March 3, 2010

Download a pdf version at: www.saveralphsbay.org/pdf/SRBMedia03Mar10.pdf

“Walker proposes that the revised date for our response to the DIAR be Friday 26th March 2010.”
(Walker Corporation letter to Tasmanian Planning Commission)

“Once again, the Walker Corporation is trying to get its unpopular canal estate development under the radar in the leadup to a state election”, said Save Ralphs Bay spokeswoman Jane MacDonald.

“One hundred and twenty individuals and groups such as Save Ralphs Bay Inc. met the Planning Commission’s deadline of November 24th last year for submissions on the Draft Integrated Assessment Report (DIAR), but now Walker Corp. wants another bite at the cherry”.

The Walker Corporation requested, and was granted, the opportunity to make a special additional submission on the DIAR, and the Planning Commission set the deadline of this Friday, March 5th, for Walker Corp’s extra submission, months after all other submissions were in.

Now, it seems, the Walker Corporation is not prepared to make its submission by the March 5th deadline. Instead, it proposes to submit its additional submission on March 26th, six days after the state election is over.

“Whatever is to be contained in Walker Corp’s new submission, four months after all other submissions on the DIAR, it seems the corporation is in no hurry to allow the community to read it,” said Ms. MacDonald.

“It is outrageous that Tasmanian voters will have no idea of what Walker Corp. is up to until after the state election.”

“This has gone on for long enough”, said Save Ralphs Bay Chair, Bill Edmunds. “Our community has been fighting to protect the Ralphs Bay sandflats for six long years. It is high time for the Tasmanian Planning Commission to be allowed to move on to its final assessment report.”

The Tasmanian Planning Commission’s Draft Integrated Assessment Report
(DIAR) for the proposed Ralphs Bay canal estate was released last October.
The message was clear: the Planning Commission found that the proposed canal estate was not sustainable, and, “would be a major and unacceptable intervention into Ralphs Bay.”

In the Draft Report, the Panel considered that the importance of Lauderdale to the Red‐necked Stint and to the Pied Oystercatcher is such that it cannot recommend approval of the proposal.

The Draft Report stated that the visual impact of the development (in particular in its reclamation stage and to a lesser extent thereafter) would be significantly detrimental.

“We have seen delaying tactics before, and we are not impressed”, said Mr. Edmunds.
In the lead up to the 2006 state election, the proposed Ralphs Bay canal estate was ‘shelved’, ‘on commercial grounds.’ The 2006 state election campaign was fought on the understanding that Walker
Corporation’s proposal was no longer an issue. However, the proposal
reappeared after the state Labor government was returned.

By 6 September 2006, Sue Neales reported in the Mercury, “Contrary to claims made by Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon, Walker Corporation has admitted that its pullout from the Ralphs Bay canal housing project was always only temporary. It was also only ever about politics.”

Backing this up with quotes from Walker Corporation’s then divisional manager, Kevin Hunt, during a Legislative Council Ralphs Bay briefing session on 5 September 2006, Ms. Neales commented, “Mr. Hunt’s frank admission that Walker Corporation never really abandoned its Ralphs Bay proposal last year contrasts with claims by Mr. Lennon that he was certain the company had quit Tasmania for good.”

Save Ralphs Bay Inc. calls on the Tasmanian Labor, Liberal and Green parties to give a clear explanation of their party’s position on the proposed Ralphs Bay canal estate and on canal estate developments in general.

Canal estate developments are banned in Victoria and New South Wales because of their damaging environmental impacts.

— Save Ralphs Bay Inc. : www.SaveRalphsBay.org —
Jane MacDonald, Save Ralphs Bay