SRB Media Releases

The community group Save Ralphs Bay Inc. believes the announcement by Sydney-based canal estate proponent, Walker Corporation, that it would this week begin drilling works in Ralphs Bay, demonstrates the developer’s continuing and apparently willful lack of understanding of the area’s fragile environment and the River Derwent’s slow recovery.

Save Ralphs Bay Inc. welcomes Premier David Bartlett’s assurance this morning that the assessment of the proposed Walker Corporation canal estate in Ralphs Bay rests with the Resource Planning and Development Commission, and the RPDC’s decision on the matter will be respected by the State Government.

The community group formed in March 2004, Save Ralphs Bay Inc (SRB), congratulates the RPDC for its rigorous and comprehensive guidelines for the assessment of the Walker Corporation’s proposed canal estate development and calls on to the Walker Corporation to make a public commitment to the PoSS process and the Premier, Paul Lennon, to allow the RPDC to conduct a comprehensive, rigorous assessment of the proposed development without interference.

To further its inappropriate development agenda, the Lennon Government has directed the Resource Planning and Development Commission NOT to consider Ralphs Bay as part of its current Inquiry into Marine Protected Areas in the Bruny Bioregion.
On the 8th of August, Planning Minister Steve Kons directed the RPDC to remove the Ralphs Bay Conservation Area from its recommendations on the establishment of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Bruny Bioregion

The community group charged with preventing Tasmania’s first canal housing estate from being constructed inside the Ralphs Bay Conservation Area today expressed its belief that the Walker Corporation can be defeated in the Resource Planning and Development Commission (RPDC).

Responding to the release late yesterday of the RPDC Draft Scope Guidelines and the developer’s Project Scope, Save Ralphs Bay (SRB) Inc. said while the group still did not believe the Walker proposal should even be in the formal planning system, now that the assessment is underway SRB Inc. will invest all its available time, money and human resources in beating billionaire Lang Walker’s plan.

The Lennon Government’s total contempt for State and Commonwealth environmental law, democracy and Tasmania’s independent planning system has set the alarm bells clanging for the Ralphs Bay community as it should for communities all over the state, Save Ralphs Bay Inc. said today.

SRB Inc Acting Chair Jane MacDonald said any confidence the group had in a fair and just assessment for the Walker Corporation canal estate proposal was fast evaporating.

The debacle over Julian Green and Dr Warwick Raverty’s resignations from the Resource Planning and Development Commission (RPDC) has thrown serious doubt over the integrity of the RPDC process not just for the pulp mill assessment, but for residents opposed to the destruction of the Ralphs Bay Conservation Area, and other community groups representing their concerns before the Commission.

In a joint statement today, the Tasmanian Conservation Trust, Save Ralphs Bay Inc. and the Tasmanian Beekeepers’ Association said the Lennon Government had corrupted the planning process by meddling in the work of the Commission, while at the same time assuring concerned communities to have faith in the ‘independent umpire’.

Download a PDF version of the media release here (65kb)

Planning Minister Steve Kons has demonstrated his lack of understanding of the damage caused by canal estate developments, a careless disregard for coastal values in Tasmania, and a clear willingness to ignore the advice of the State Government’s independent umpire, Save Ralphs Bay Inc. said today.

SRB Inc. Chair Bill Edmunds said the Minister has rejected the Resource Planning and Development Commission’s (RPDC) recommendation that it should assess SRB Inc.’s Draft Planning Directive proposing a statewide canal estate ban in local planning schemes.