Friends of the Great Western Tiers (kooparoona niara) Inc.
Media Release 20 March 2016
Friends of the Great Western Tiers (kooparoona niara) welcome the report from the UNESCO World Heritage monitoring mission. We are pleased with the recommendation against logging and mining in the WHA, group President Deborah Hunter said today. We also welcome the recommendation for a thorough assessment of Aboriginal cultural heritage values, and for involvement of the Aboriginal community in the long term management of the WHA.
Much of the Great Western Tiers, although in the WHA, would have been excluded entirely from the Government?s previous draft WHA management plan and had no reserve status at all. The report of the mission makes clear that this is quite unacceptable. We have long held that the Great Western Tiers exhibit a very special suite of values, both natural and cultural, as was recognised when the WHA boundaries were extended to include it. We call upon the Government to commit to a National Park as recommended in the report.
We urge the Premier to confirm Minister Groom?s statement on Sunday that ?we accept all the recommendations?, and we look forward to the full implementation of these recommendations, Ms Hunter concluded.
Deb Hunter
