Mole Creek Karst National Park expands but Western Tiers gets ‘weak’ protection
Mole Creek Karst National Park, extended by 2,850 hectares.
The proposed kooparoona niara / Western tiers Nation Park, rejected by the State Government.
Sharon Webb
The State Government will extend Mole Creek Karst National Park by 2,850 hectares including the catchment of the internationally significant Kubla Khan Cave.
At the same time the government rejected a proposal for Tasmania’s first new national park in 30 years.
The Aboriginal land council and other Meander Valley groups pushing for a new kooparoona niara / Western Tiers National Park are disappointed and angry.
Instead, Parks Minister Jacqui Petrusma is proposing that 22,550 hectares of future potential production forest land in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area be listed as either conservation area or regional reserve.
New national park proposers have labelled this as ‘weak’ protection, with the land still at risk of logging and mining.
Land Council manager Rebecca Digney said, ‘Here is an opportunity where unallocated crown land that was never ceded by Aboriginal people will be presented to parliament for a tenure change.’
‘Logic, fairness and justice would suggest a return to Aboriginal ownership should be prioritised. We proposed an iconic new Aboriginal-owned national park but instead, the government looks set to disappoint and deliver the lowest common denominator, low grade reserves.’
Ms Petrusma said as many of the areas displayed evidence of past land use practices, reserving the land as either conservation area or regional reserve is consistent with the requirements of the Nature Conservation Act 2002.
‘Management objectives for the world heritage area will ensure these areas are appropriately protected.
‘Importantly, this proposal does not preclude the involvement of Tasmanian Aboriginal people in land management nor does it create additional barriers to land return in the future.’
In March this year, the Wilderness Society, the Friends of Great Western Tiers / kooparoona niara, the Tasmanian National Parks Association, Mole Creek Caving Club and Great Western Tiers National Park Campaign called for the creation of kooparoona niara / Western Tiers National Park in response to a State Government process concerning 16 areas of unallocated crown land in the world heritage area.
The Wilderness Society’s Tom Allen said that with tourism rebuilding and an ever-increasing need to properly protect declining ecosystems, it would be a good time to create Tasmania’s first substantial new national park in 30 years.
‘There is also the prospect of this land being returned to its rightful owners, the palawa-pakana peoples, as well as this being the first national park managed by the island’s First Peoples,’ he said.
Ms Petrusma said expanding the Mole Creek national park would better protect the area’s unique limestone cave systems.
Deb Hunter from the Mole Creek Caving Club welcomed a consolidated Mole Creek Karst National Park.
‘Mole Creek Caving Club has documented the conservation values of the Mole Creek landscape since 1990,’ she said.
‘The existing national park, which is supposed to protect the caves, is only a series of disconnected blocks scattered across the landscape.’
The proposal will now go through the required statutory processes, including the approval of both houses of Parliament.
