Ms BADGER (Lyons) – Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and congratulations on your role. What was clear at yesterday’s rally was that Tasmanians are deeply passionate about our environment. They are also deeply concerned about both the environment and our wildlife, and they do not trust the ‘Laborials’ to implement the proper reforms that are necessary to protect our wild places.
People are also rightfully concerned that corporate interests are being put ahead of everyday Tasmanians by privatising protected land for exclusive development. We have seen in the past few years this state capture leading to skewed management priorities and accelerating environmental degradation of our irreplaceable Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. The TWWHA and our national parks are, hands down, Tasmania’s greatest intergenerational assets and a safeguard against the climate and biodiversity crisis. As such, care for these magnificent places must happen with future generations in mind.
This is why management plans should be carefully considered, informed and respected in implementation. Instead, what we are currently seeing is a lack of safeguards, broken maintenance regimes and several underfunded land management practices, particularly the Parks and Wildlife Service. An example of this neglect shown to our protected areas is the little to no spending on iconic and world-famous experiences such as the South Coast Track and Port Davey Track in the south west. Both have serious problems with erosion and pathogen controls. Similarly, sensitive sub‑alpine areas such as the Southern Ranges and The Labyrinth have had zero spending on them, along with many more stunning and sensitive locations that are home to endemic species that cannot be found anywhere else on this planet.
Parks needs far greater resources dedicated to its core business, which is conservation. It is not a proxy real estate agent through the expressions of interest process. This is a snatch‑and‑grab policy and a process that is seeing vast amounts of much‑needed Parks resources dedicated to the interests of commercial developments. It is also facilitating privatisation of our public lands.
The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area and our national parks must be equitably accessible for all. That stands for visitors today and into the future. We can do that. Tasmania can both properly protect our wild places and have a thriving, economically strong tourism industry. We have ample opportunities with no and low‑impact tourism options that can happen within our protected places and have commercial facilities outside of our parks. These opportunities lie in conservation tourism, bringing visitors in who will care and help regenerate our wild places, rather than degrade them. We have seen this happen successfully elsewhere around the globe. We have opportunities here like tall tree tourism, a profitable and sustainable alternative for our carbon‑rich forests, rather than logging and burning our native giants. There are untapped niche markets in birdwatching and geomorphological tourism as well.
There are also the dark skies. We heard Uncle Jim Everett speak yesterday of sky country and the cultural importance of dark skies to the Aboriginal community. Over the weekend many thousands of Tasmanians saw the significance of dark skies with the awe and wonder of the Aurora Australis. They should not have to wait until a once‑in‑a‑lifetime event to experience this. They should be able to go to the Southwest National Park dark sky sanctuary and witness this whenever natural events are occurring.
Lastly, we have the most extraordinary opportunity to expand our wilderness World Heritage Area to encompass the Spero‑Wanderer wilderness. which is currently underprotected as a Southwest Conservation Area, the Tyndalls and South Coast Range, and takayna/Tarkine, which is currently facing new threats of logging along the Frankland River. These wonderful places provide innumerable opportunities for Tasmania if managed and resourced properly. Still, it seems it is only the Greens advocating for these wild places to be enjoyed and shared with the world in a way that benefits this generation and all to come.
