Hodgman government strangely silent on fees and potential road closures for kunanyi/Mt Wellington

There is an ominous silence coming from the new Liberal Government in response to the Tourism Industry Council’s call for visitors to be charged to park and potentially to access the Wellington Park, Denison Greens MP, Cassy O’Connor said today.

“While Luke Martin proposes to slug Tasmanians to visit their own mountain wilderness and to turn kunanyi into a developers’ playground, we’ve heard nothing from Premier Hodgman or the Environment Minister to ease any concern locals might have about being charged for the privilege of accessing the mountain.”

“What’s the deal? Is Mr Martin speaking only on behalf of the TICT and the cable car backers, or is he laying the groundwork for a new user-pays approach to the mountain?”

“The Premier needs to let Tasmanians know whether there are any plans to make people pay to use the mountain.”

“He also needs to rule out any road closures to enable the proposed cable car to be viable.”

“Huge questions over road closures remain unanswered by either Mr Bold or the Liberal Government.”

“If Tasmanians thought a cable car would come at the cost of free public access to the mountain, any support for it would drop to close to zero.

“Instead of trying to coerce the Hobart City Council to bend to his will, Mr Bold should first let Tasmanians know whether road closures are part of the business case for a cable car.”

“And, we need to hear from the new government. Is it considering charging people to park on and access the mountain, and is it prepared to close the road to the summit to prop up the viability of a cable car?”

“These are entirely legitimate and reasonable questions,” Ms O’Connor said.
Cassy O’Connor MP | Greens Member for Denison