Deputy Speaker, kunanyi/Mt Wellington is the heart and soul of Greater Hobart. Referred to by locals as “The Mountain”, it can be seen from many kilometers away and, along with the River Derwent, defines the city’s very sense of place.
The Organ Pipes in particular, 120 metre columns of dolerite, are magnificent and one of the mountain’s most distinctive features. When sunlight hits them, the whole mountain glows, and ruining that sight is just one of the reasons why the proposal to build a cable car across the Organ Pipes is such a bad proposal. The fact that it will have a significant and permanent impact on native vegetation and threatened species is another.
There’s simply no way a 35m tower, and a four-story complex with restaurant, café and amphitheater, on top of the mountain, can satisfy sensible environmental, economic and social planning criteria.
Moreover many of lutruwita/Tasmania’s Aboriginal people strongly oppose the development as it will potentially desecrate spiritual and sacred places. This is a very important concern Deputy Speaker, and the fact that it’s being paid so little attention is deeply shameful.
Deputy Speaker the cable car proposal is now before Hobart City Council. And frankly it stinks every bit as much as the sewage that’ll be transported from the facility via tanks beneath the cable cars. Clearly this proposal should not be approved.