Eric Hutchinson: The real World Heritage embarrassment

The international World Heritage assessment body would be alarmed to learn that great swathes of what it believes is pristine Tasmanian forest instead features quarries and rubbish tips, says Lyons Liberal MHR Eric Hutchinson.

Mr Hutchinson slammed comments by Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne and Tasmanian Wilderness Society spokesman Vica Bayley on a proposal to amend extensions to Tasmania’s World Heritage Area as base politics.

Ms Milne is quoted in a Southern Tasmanian newspaper as saying that the world would react as it did to the Taliban bombing of Afghanistan’s World Heritage Buddha statues.

She was commenting after federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt confirmed that the government would apply to revoke parts of the new World Heritage areas granted as part of the Tasmanian Forestry Agreement.

Mr Bayley said that any attempt to revoke World Heritage listing to allow logging was an international embarrassment for Australia.

But Mr Hutchinson said that the embarrassment would be when the World Heritage assessment body realised that much of the area submitted for new World Heritage listing under the previous federal Labor government had already been logged continuously for many years.

“It includes quarries and rubbish tips _ if you want to see photographs, we have photographs,’’ Mr Hutchinson said.

“That will be the major embarrassment to Australia.

“These areas are not what Tasmanians and Australians would expect to be included as something special, as pristine areas of significance.

“It’s about time the truth was told.’’
Eric Hutchinson, MP Member for Lyons