Labor MP Shane Broad has declared he will not be “bullied by the Greens”, less than a week after copping criticism for backing the idea of a cable car on Kunanyi/Mt Wellington.
Despite being a member for the electorate of Braddon on the other side of the state, Broad took to social media last week in support of the cable car.
“Seems like every time I talk about a development, I get jumped on by the Greens having a crack at me,” Broad said.
“But I’ll tell you this, I won’t be bullied by the Greens. What I’m interested in is what’s in the best interest of Tasmania, not what’s in the best interest of the Greens trying to stop everything.”
Broad had last week said snow events currently make it nearly impossible to reach the summit because the road is closed.
“I think if there was a cable car up Mount Wellington, we could actually do one that was sympathetic and wasn’t really poking people in the eye,” he said.
“It would be a major tourist attraction, but I think there has to be a way of doing it that means that it doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb.”
However Greens tourism spokesperson Tabatha Badger was quick to take aim at Broad.
She said she was “not at all surprised” by his stance.
“We see them regularly line up with the Liberals and support their policies around inappropriate development, particularly in protected areas as well,” Badger said.
She said Kunanyi was “an incredibly sacred place” that was important to people in Hobart and to the wider Aboriginal community.
“That is a site that should be protected,” she said.
Business, Industry and Resources Minister Felix Ellis told Pulse last week the transport options for the mountain are “not up to standard.”
However Ellis would not commit to a release date for the government’s long-delayed action plan, instead saying it would be “released shortly.”
The action plan was originally scheduled for release in June 2025, then late 2025, then April this year, then June. As of August, it still has not been published.
Badger said the Greens have been calling for the review information to be released “for quite some time.”
A previous cable car proposal was rejected by Hobart City Council in 2021 and the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in 2022, with around 72% of 16,500 public submissions opposing it.
