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Video Walking track development under attack

Sarah Bester

The Tasmanian Government is building a walking track along the Tasman Peninsula to attract tourists, but the plan has been criticised by members of the Greens political party.


AIRLIE WARD, PRESENTER: Tasmania's Labor-Green Government has survived six weeks relatively unscathed but a new environment debate is threatening the calm.

This time the staging ground is in the State's south-east, where the Government is arranging a multi-million dollar bushwalking development to attract more visitors to the Tasman Peninsula.

The Greens originally supported the project, but not anymore.

Stateline's Sarah Bester visited the region to see what's planned.

SARAH BESTER, REPORTER: A dramatic carved coastline, fluted cliffs and a rich convict history draw tens of thousands of tourists to the Tasman Peninsula.

Now it's been earmarked as prime real estate for a multi-million dollar world-class walking track.

STUART LENNOX, PARKS AND WILDLIFE SERVICE: Three Capes we're aiming to be Australia's premier coastal bushwalk.

DANIEL HANNA, TOURISM INDUSTRY COUNCIL: This is the logical extension, this product could be the next great one that ah, that we'll use in our marketing.

SARAH BESTER: The tourism sector believes the Three Capes track could be another jewel in the crown of must-see Tasmanian destinations.

But opponents are worried about the environment, and say their concerns about the landscape are being ignored.

ANNE MCCONNELL, NATIONAL PARKS ASSOCIATION: Primarily we get a lot of spin about how wonderful it'll be and how much money it'll bring to the Tasman Peninsula,

SARAH BESTER: The Three Capes walk was a pet project of former premier Paul Lennon, who floated the idea three years ago.

Since then the project has been sustained by government bureaucrats.

Just prior to the March election, the State Government committed $12 million to further the plan and the Federal Government agreed to match that.

That money will go towards building tracks and accommodation, opening the way for a private developer to spend about $8 million on finessing the Three Capes venture, operate the walk and share the profits.

STUART LENNOX: We are very confident that when we release that opportunity there will be strong interest.

We already have some outstanding products in this area and Tasmania and we would expect both national and international interest in the tender.

SARAH BESTER: The proposal is modelled on Tasmania's popular overland track.

It spans 68 kilometres of south-east coast, taking in Capes Raoul, Pillar and Hauy, with five overnight accommodation villages and a boat trip to connect two sections of track.

But walking groups say the style of development is more suited to a theme park.

ANNE MCCONNELL: The thing that most concerned us was the scale of the infrastructure they're proposing. Now I think an important thing to get across here is that this is not just a bushwalk that's being proposed, this is a tourism development.

SARAH BESTER: They're worried the five mini villages, each including a 48-bed hut, ranger accommodation and a helipad for transporting supplies and waste, will scar the landscape.

ANNE MCCONNELL: So this is actually quite a cluster of buildings which will in five places have quite an impact in what is a national park, and in our view it's not consistent with the purposes for which a national park is created.

STUART LENNOX: We know the park is about 10,000 hectares, and this development's footprint is five, five hectares. So it's a very small footprint in, in terms of the overall scale of the park.

SARAH BESTER: The Peninsula already has more than 30 well-worn tracks but fewer than half of those are included in the Three Capes route.

Instead of upgrading the existing network, the Government wants to cut wider paths through coastal scrub.

Under the proposal its likely tourists will catch a boat from Pirates Bay to the north until they reach this point at Fortescue Bay, missing an entire section of existing track looking out over some of the Peninsula's most famous scenery.

ANNE MCCONNELL: We just think it's incredible that they're bypassing this section of walking, existing walking track from Pirates Bay to Fortescue Bay, which in our view is the most spectacular part of all the walking track on the Tasman Peninsula and will be more spectacular than the new bits that they're going to be building.

SARAH BESTER: Before the last state election the Greens joined tri-partisan support for the walk, in a deal to secure federal funding.

But now the Greens have backed out.

TIM MORRIS, GREENS SPOKESMAN: To just go through and blaze new tracks across our national parks is going to end up with another dispute like the Tarkine Road, that's where we're heading with this.

SARAH BESTER: They're demanding the Government release an environmental impact assessment, which it's refused to make public.

TIM MORRIS: If that statement is saying that certain tracks should not go to certain places or visitor's nodes should not go in certain places, well we need to have that information.

SARAH BESTER: The Greens are also sceptical about how the region will benefit.

A report commissioned by the Tourism Industry Council, estimates the walk would generate $190 million a year by 2017, creating jobs and a trickle through for local tourist operators.

The National Bushwalking Advisory Group has crunched its own numbers, and says the report counts some tourists twice.

ROBERT CAMPBELL, BUSHWALKING TRACK REVIEW PANEL: The analysis would seem to be double counting such visitors by assuming that they are solely going, included in this 3 to 5 per cent additional increase in visitors, when they're already included in the existing visitors to the Tasman Peninsula.

SARAH BESTER: The industry report says a significant slice of the extra tourism income would be snapped up by local operators.

DANIEL HANNA: You get people staying in the area, they spend on accommodation, they spend on their food, they spend on experiences, attractions, tours. That's where you create real wealth in a local area and you also create a lot of jobs.

SARAH BESTER: But the advisory group tells a different story.

ROBERT CAMPBELL: We don't see how having people spend all their time doing a single walk and staying in single, in private huts within the park, is actually going to spread the benefits around to the existing operators in the Tasman region.

And when you actually take these two factors into account, the annual economic benefits to the Tasman Peninsula fall to between $1.2 and $2.2 million per year.

SARAH BESTER: The Three Capes master plan is still under wraps.

The parks service is waiting to see if funding is confirmed in next month's State budget. But it seems unlikely the proposal will change.

The Government has confirmed interest from 20 developers, including local players, but it won't say who.

STUART LENNOX: We identified that there was significant interest in this project within the current Tasmanian tourism industry, but also we had interest from both mainland based companies and from international companies.

ANNE MCCONNELL: We think the Government's taking advantage of its position, in this case National Parks, or the Government is the developer, National Parks is the landowner and National Parks is the regulatory authority who makes decision about whether the development's appropriate or not. So in fact there's no independent authority here.

TIM MORRIS: We want to see a fundamental change at the government level in the way that our parks are respected, they are precious places, they need to be treated as special places, not as just another bit of vacant land for development.

7.30 Tasmania