No quick fix for Tarkine mine

Calls by Tasmanian Minerals Council chief Terry Long, Tasmanian Deputy Premier Bryan Green and Braddon MP Sid Sidebottom for some kind of technical or administrative fix to yesterday’s Federal Court decision to set aside approvals for the Nelson Bay River mine in the Tarkine, are both uninformed and an example of the kind of corrupted process that resulted in the Federal Court decision.

“The failure of the Minister and his department to consult the Approved Conservation Advice was not an adminstrative oversight. The Approved Conservation Advice is the key source of advice on which the Minister must rely to determine how best to protect the Tasmanian devil in any assessment,” said Save the Tarkine Campaign Coordinator, Scott Jordan.

“You can’t just add it to the appendix after the event and publish the same decision. The court didn’’t say the Minister forgot to list it, it actually said the Minister failed to consult it at all,”

“The comments by Long, Green and Sidebottom show an example of trying to solve a problem by repeating the action that created it”.

“The Minister must either let the court decision stand as the final judgement, appeal to the full bench of the Federal Court, or go back to the start of the process and conduct a proper legal assessment,”

“Anything short of this will end up back before a court on exactly the same grounds”.
Scott Jordan, Campaign Coordinator, Save the Tarkine