Minister confirms Three Capes Track downsized

The Tasmania Greens today secured confirmation from the Parks Minister that only stage one and two of the controversial Three Capes track would be completed.

Greens Member for Lyons Tim Morris MP used today’s Budget Estimates to query the Minister on the current status of the project.

“The Minister has confirmed that the available funding will only be enough to complete stage two of the three capes,” Mr Morris said.

“This is actually a good result for the area’s environmental values, because it means that the most serious environmental damage from this project won’t go ahead.”

“We have always been concerned that the untenable and optimistic business case underpinning the track’s development exposed taxpayers if the development doesn’t turn out to be as popular as the business case envisages.”

“The Greens have warned, the National Parks Association has warned, and locals have warned that the scale of the original proposal was unfeasible and ill-advised.”

“Today’s admission that the project has had to be scaled down confirms the veracity of those warnings.”