Ms O’CONNOR question to MINISTER for PARKS and ENVIRONMENT, Mr DUIGAN
Just to continue my question – our chat. Last week we talked about the public access program for Halls Island, which is heavily restricted and controlled by Mr Hackett. It was recently altered by the proponent to limit visitor numbers to the island to four. He now gets to control the numbers to four, he says, to protect the natural values of the place. These are four people who Mr Hackett deems likeable and worthy and who have been nice to him.
Minister, does this mean Mr Hackett’s going to alter his proposed commercial helicopter service to just four people at a time? Have you had any updates from the proponent as to whether there have been any changes to the proposal, given that he now thinks that four is the carrying capacity of Halls Island?
ANSWER
Mr President, Halls Island Public Access program is listed on the proponent’s website, originally published in January 2019 and subsequently updated this month. The process is now even simpler for people to seek access to the island. There are leases on parks, land and reserves across Tasmania that support a range of uses including by local community and sporting groups such as Scouts; infrastructure such as critical telecommunications equipment; and tourism businesses that provide an array of visitor experiences including accommodation offerings. With regards to any trespass concerns, as part of lease agreements, this is a matter for the various leases. And, again, for anyone interested in visiting Halls Island, in particular, they should review the publicly available information on the proponent’s website as it is clear the island is not locked out to the public.
