Download this media release as pdf at:
http://www.saveralphsbay.org/pdf/SRB_media_23012009.pdf

Save Ralphs Bay Inc. (SRB) was alarmed to hear Premier David Bartlett spruiking the Walker Corporation’s proposed canal estate in response to the report of the Clarence Climate Impacts Project.

“Has the Premier forgotten that the integrated assessment of the proposed canal estate is before the Resource Planning and Development Commission?”
asked SRB spokeswoman Jane MacDonald.  “After the problems caused by the State Government’s vigorous promotion of the last Project of State Significance (the Pulp Mill), we are disappointed to hear the current Premier actively promoting the Walker development, ahead of its independent assessment.

“Mr. Bartlett’s statement that the proposal could be, ‘a good thing for the Tasmanian coastal environment’ shows astonishing ignorance.  The proposal to bulldoze the sandflats of the Ralphs Bay Conservation Area, creating deep channels and artificial islands, would permanently destroy a vast expanse of protected shorebird feeding and roosting habitat, with far-reaching impacts for local communities and marine organisms.”

Save Ralphs Bay Inc. congratulates Clarence City Council on its participation in the National Climate Change Adaptation Program, and the production of its comprehensive and thoroughly researched report into Climate Change Impacts on Clarence Coastal Areas.

“Premier Bartlett is quite wrong to suggest the Clarence report gives a tick of approval to the Walker Corporation’s destructive proposal,” said SRB’s Jane MacDonald.

“If the Premier has any serious interest in canal estates and coastal policy, he should be studying the Victorian Coastal Strategy 2008, which prohibits the development of housing estates around man-made canals in a bid to protect estuarine environments.”

Media contact:  Jane MacDonald 0406 993 425