High-end helicopter hut in the Walls National Park highlights transparency and assessment failures

• Development details revealed for the first time but proponent seeks to keep assessment secret
• ‘Hut’ and ‘buildings’ breach even the weakened WHA Management Plan

More detailed plans for a ‘very top-end of the market’, helicopter accessed private tourism development in the World Heritage-listed Walls of Jerusalem National Park have been revealed for the first time and highlight the fact they do not conform with the new 2016 Management Plan for the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA).

Despite being approved as a ‘standing camp’ under the Tasmanian Government’s discredited Expressions of Interest process, the Halls Island development ( https://www.cg.tas.gov.au/home/investment_attraction/expressions_of_interest_in_tourism/eoi_tourism_projects ) has been revealed as a ‘timber and steel’ ‘communal hut’, three separate ‘accommodation buildings’ and associated toilet and boardwalk infrastructure in a referral to the Federal Government for assessment under national environment laws. See there referral here: http://epbcnotices.environment.gov.au/referralslist/

“Even the weakened new Management Plan for the World Heritage Area actually prohibits this kind of development in a sensitive area like the Walls of Jerusalem National Park”, said Vica Bayley, spokesperson for the Wilderness Society.

“Lake Malbena was deliberately excised from the ‘wilderness zone’ to try to accommodate this development, but even the ‘self-reliant recreation zone’ prohibits hut development, new tracks and boardwalks, to avoid the impacts that come with them.

“There is nothing ‘self-reliant’ about a helicopter accessed, luxury private tourism development in a high value wilderness area.”

This development and the helicopter access it relies upon is exactly the kind of development the World Heritage Committee was concerned about when it called for the ‘establishment of strict criteria for new tourism development within the property which would be in line with the primary goal of protecting the property’s OUV, including its wilderness character and cultural attributes. (2015 decision 39 COM 7B.35)

“This is a wilderness area that will be lost through the development of luxury, helicopter accessed accommodation.

“You can’t maintain wilderness quality and build huts and helipads…they are mutually exclusive.

“In making this referral, the proponent has sought to withhold the Parks Service assessment of his development from public release, citing commercial in confidence and making it near impossible for public scrutiny of claims or the credibility of the new so-called ‘strict-criteria’ by which it was assessed.
Vica Bayley Tasmanian Campaign Manager The Wilderness Society (Tasmania) Inc.