Government deflection of the case for new national parks doesn’t stack up

• 43% of Tasmania’s ‘reserves’ can be logged or mined
• Groom has already ‘accepted’ a UNESCO recommendation to declare a national park in the Great Western Tiers
• Proposed management plan changes weaken protections for existing national parks

On the 100th birthday of Tasmania’s national parks, conservationists maintain the case for new national parks and reserves and call out Government’s justification for their rejection as lacking credibility. Tasmanian Environment Minister Matthew Groom claims that about half of Tasmania is protected, therefore there are enough parks declared already and that the Hodgman government will focus on protecting and celebrating existing national parks.

The case for new national parks is strong given their widely accepted economic, employment, community and environmental benefits and the location of proposed new national parks in struggling regional areas of the state.

“The argument that half of Tasmania is ‘protected’ is a shallow one, given 43% of these ‘reserves’ can be logged or mined,” said Vica Bayley, spokesperson for the Wilderness Society. “This was highlighted by the approval of the failed Shree mine in the Arthur Pieman Conservation Area in the takayna/Tarkine.”

“In 2014 the Hodgman Government changed the law to allow rainforest logging in Regional Reserves and Conservation Areas, an area of over 1 million ha around the state. A place simply isn’t properly protected if it can be logged or mined.

“Many of the proposed new national parks are already part of the ‘50%’ of Tasmania that Mr Groom calls a reserve, but these areas need their reserve status upgraded to rule out logging and mining and finally deliver genuine, credible conservation and the economic, job and branding benefits that come with being a national park.

Last year’s UNESCO mission to Tasmania’s World Heritage Area recommended the Great Western Tiers be made a national park (recommendation 11). Government accepted this and at its July 2016 meeting, the World Heritage Committee requested it be implemented.

“Minister Groom appears determined to block the possibility and potential of new national parks, yet he has emphatically ‘accepted’ a UNESCO recommendation to create a national park for the World Heritage Listed Great Western Tiers. Something doesn’t stack up!

“A Government claim that it is focussed on properly managing Tasmania’s national parks ignores the fact that Parks funding has been repeatedly cut and park management plans are being changed to weaken longstanding protections to allow private commercial developments that will negatively impact on values like wilderness.

“Parallel to weakened management plans, the controversial new Statewide Planning Scheme treats commercial developments inside national parks as ‘permitted’ if they have passed an internal Parks and Wildlife Service assessment. This is a backward step that would weaken the level of scrutiny, diminish public engagement and remove third party right of appeal.
Vica Bayley Tasmanian Campaign Manager The Wilderness Society (Tasmania) Inc.