This post reproduces a series of letters relating to the site near Westbury announced by the state government in June as the location for a proposed Northern Regional Prison.
The substantive issues raised include the reserve status of the land and its actual conservation values.
It includes:
– letter dated 26 June by Andrew Ricketts, a private reserve owner, to Premier Peter Gutwein.
– response dated 9 July by Minister for Corrections Elise Archer to Ricketts; copied to Premier.
– reply dated 3 September by Andrew Ricketts addressing issues in the Archer letter, sent to Archer and to Minister for Parks and Reserves and Minister for Planning Roger Jaensch; copied to Premier, Labor Leader Rebecca White, Greens Leader Cassy O’Connor
– additional documents that may help illustrate the issues: National Reserve System IBRA map; CRA Key Fauna Habitat Rare and Threatened Species Map; a map of the prison site.
TASMANIAN TIMES: Northern Prison Questions Remain.
TASMANIAN TIMES: Northern Prison Site Confirmed for Westbury.
John Powell
September 4, 2020 at 12:28
That’s a brilliant compilation of material, Andrew.
May the Force be With YOU …
mjf
September 4, 2020 at 15:53
This is a fine state of affairs.
So are we now to believe that a slab of dry inland E amygdalina forest, which was surveyed and thought important enough to purchase with Federal funding for its floral values and attributes, is now anything but? How could this have become so wrong?
Something is indeed rotten in the state of Denmark.
John Hawkins
September 5, 2020 at 18:53
Andrew Ricketts lays it out for Archer. His ability to marshal the facts in this complex and little understood field is second to none.
A worthy opponent for the Attorney General and her bureaucrats. The senior law officer in the State must uphold the law.
Andrew has clearly stated that, should she go ahead with a prison on this land, she will be in contempt of all that which she professes to uphold.
This might be the first inhabitant of her illegal creation even under a Project of State Significance.
An eagle eye for minutia producing a result like this is something we mere mortals can be proud of.
Thankyou, Andrew.