Deputy Greens leader Vica Bayley has expressed his disappointment with a recommendation to approve a zip-line on Kunanyi/Mount Wellington.
Touted as the longest and fastest zip-line in the Asia-Pacific, Hobart City Council planners have, as first reported by Pulse, found the development compliant and recommended it go ahead.
Speaking in Parliament today, an “appalled and ashamed” Bayley criticised the planning assessment process, raised issues with Aboriginal heritage reports and consultation and placed blame on the state government.
“I’ve talked at length in this place, including yesterday, about the acknowledged failures of the Aboriginal Heritage Act,” he said.
“[The] government has long admitted that it doesn’t work, including in this place in 2021, but it delays tabling a new bill to fix it. Meanwhile, developments like this one are assessed against the flawed act.”
Bayley also highlighted concerns about how the adventure tourism development is classed as a transport depot and distribution use under planning rules.
“Despite not meeting the definition being, I quote, ‘forms of public transport that have the potential to effectively move large numbers of people’, the planning official has recommended approval because it can be considered an aerial ropeway.”
“This proposal will shift only 12 to 24 thrill-seekers per hour, but it’s allowed to be passed off as public transport. What a joke.”
He believes councillors should refuse the recommendation when it goes to a vote next week.
“There’s hope the council will reject the advice because it’s wrong,” he said.
“They can vote to protect the integrity of the mountain, but if they don’t, as they feel constrained to accept poor advice, it is case in point as to why third-party appeal rights to test the merits of a development assessment are so very important and need to be retained.”
Under roles and responsibilities set out in the Local Government Act, councillors acting as a planning authority must assess projects against the planning scheme.
“While councillors are obliged to consider the community’s views, this does not mean they can vote in favour of those views while fulfilling the role of a planning authority,” the Department of Premier and Cabinet website states.
“Councillors must make planning decisions based on whether a planning application is consistent with the local planning scheme, even if members of the community object to the planning proposal.”
