*Pic: Ted Mead’s picture of Ordinance Point’s grand Aboriginal midden … Despite Parks and Wildlife installation of coastal fencing, many vehicles pushed access through the scrub and have been frequently riding across the dune.
Off-road motorists are taking down protective fences to ride roughshod over Aboriginal middens, Tasmanian Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson says.
Senator Whish-Wilson said some motorists were not just continuing to flout the law by using banned tracks in the 100,000-hectare Arthur Pieman Conservation Area, they were joyriding over middens protected by fences and signs.
The Greens senator flew over the area on Tasmania’s north-west coast looking for evidence of illegal access to banned tracks.
While he saw no vehicles during the flyover, he found fresh tracks.
“We saw evidence of continued damage to both the tracks leading into the Sandy Cape area,” Senator Whish-Wilson said.
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The Hodgman Government’s bid to upgrade and reopen the tracks was halted after the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre lodged Federal Court appeal and won an interim injunction.
The case is due to be heard in August but a ban on using the tracks has stood until a court decision rules otherwise.
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Senator Whish-Wilson, who was accompanied by Jarrod Edwards from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, claimed the Tasmanian Government was ignoring the problem.
“While Will Hodgman turns a blind eye to policing this area, while no people are being fined for this kind of transgression, we essentially have state-sponsored vandalism of our precious cultural heritage in Tasmania,” he said.
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Four-wheel-drive advocates were alarmed by what they claimed was a lack of action against the offenders.
Brian Hevey of 4WDTasmania said complaints had been made to the department of Parks and Wildlife as far back as February but no one had been prosecuted.
• Bryan Green: Opening Arthur Pieman tracks another Liberal broken promise
EARLIER on Tasmanian Times (a small selection …)
• The Tarkine Coast: A wildlife refuge
• This vandalism occurs without any apparent sign of action by Tasmania Police
• Rednecks hoon through the Tarkine
• Will Whiteley condemn quad bike riding vandals?
• 70 artists spend 3 days in Tarkine wilderness to capture threatened landscapes
• Tarkine rainforest and the mining industry spin
• Free-ranging the Tarkine … An ATV invasion
• Open season on the Tarkine coast
