As a group, SRB Inc has extended its efforts towards communicating our core messages to the largest possible audience, particularly the most important stakeholders in this debate, the Tasmanian people themselves.  It is their coastline which is in the sights of developers who care not for its beauty, but its capacity for profit.

Our message is simple and it is heartfelt.  Ralphs Bay is not for sale to Walker Corporation or any of its ilk: not for any price, not ever.

On behalf of the community we represent, we say – time and again – that our bay, its birds, its many tangible and intrinsic values, and our lifestyle… are not the stuff of a Gold Coast canal estate lack of vision.

We have said this through an effective, sustained local, statewide and national media communications and political strategy which began shortly before March 17 this year, in the Lauderdale Hall, when Save Ralphs Bay had yet to be formalised as a group.

One of the most critical elements of pursuing an effective communications strategy was the early establishment of a dynamic and content-rich website, http://www.saveralphsbay.org which has recently been substantially updated to a new, more user-friendly format.  The website provides a powerful tool for informing and empowering concerned Tasmanians.  It contains a record of our media and public communications output, including all media releases and newsletters; speeches; letters and background information on canal estates and the importance of wetland habitats. 

We have also conducted regular public information evenings at the Lauderdale Hall to ensure the continued flow of accurate information, provided by university and professional experts.  Among our impressive lineup of speakers: Dr Frank Bullen from the Institute of Engineers; Professor Jamie Kirkpatrick from the University School of Geography and Environmental Studies; and former Gold Coast Real Estate agent, Phil Newsome.

The grassroots aspect of our communications has focussed on an ongoing conversation between SRB Inc members and the public wherever it has been possible, and opportune to do so.  We set up our mobile information stall outside the Walker office in Lauderdale during May; at Salamanca, Sorell and South Arm markets; the Clarence Expo; the Shoreline shopping centre; at the Coast to Coast 2004 conference at the Grand Chancellor, at Barilla Bay, and at our successful Community Expo in Lauderdale.  We distributed six free Newsletters to households in the local community, to share our understanding of the key threats posed by the Walker proposal.

On July 15, almost one thousand people accepted our invitation to attend the SRB Inc Rally for the Coast at City Hall, where a loud, clear and determined message of conservation and community reached a statewide media audience, and ultimately the eleventh floor of the Executive Building where the Premier spends much of his working day.

Politically, this campaign has revealed to the local community who its true friends are at the State and Federal level.  Throughout the campaign to save the Bay, we have always sought to keep up an open and frank discussion with our elected representatives, particularly in the State and Federal seats of Franklin, the Australian Senate and the Tasmanian Upper House seat of Rumney which encompasses Ralphs Bay.

We extend our ongoing gratitude to the Tasmanian Greens, particularly Franklin MHA, Nick McKim who has been asking questions about the Walker plan since late 2003, who has kept up the pressure on the Lennon Ministry in State Parliament, and unearthed the corporate/political history of the Ralphs Bay proposal through extensive Freedom of Information searches.

Greens Senator, Christine Milne – in her capacity as a delegate to the World Conservation Union – took the fight for Ralphs Bay and its wildlife to Geneva and to the Federal Environment Minister in Canberra.  She continues to seek to raise the profile of the critically endangered Spotted Handfish which holds on to existence – just - in the Derwent, and Ralphs Bay.

Rumney Labor MLC Lin Thorp has made her personal opposition to the Walker plan clear in correspondence and meetings with concerned constituents; and publicly as a speaker at the Rally for the Coast.  SRB Inc appreciates the Member for Rumney’s persistent endeavours to convince her Govt colleagues that the plan is wrong for the environment and the local community.

Franklin Liberal MHA, Will Hodgman, attended the first public meeting on March 17 and has remained responsive to community concerns since.  Earlier this year, Will, and Environment spokesman, Jeremy Rockliff, met with a delegation from SRB Inc to hear the case against the proposed development.  Six months later, in Parliament on November 17, the Tasmanian Parliamentary Liberal party voted in support of a Greens motion condemning the Walker plan for Ralphs Bay.

The motion, while defeated by the Lennon Government’s numbers on the floor of Parliament, marked a significant turning point in the campaign.  The Opposition parties are now united in their support of the community and the preservation of the Ralphs Bay Conservation Area.  The State Government and Walker Corporation are becoming increasingly isolated in their position, to which they cling so doggedly.  It is now plain that the Ralphs Bay Village Project has absolutely no political backing outside the Labor Cabinet room.

Tasmanian Liberal Senator and Sandford resident, Senator Paul Calvert has come out strongly against the proposed development on the grounds that it does not have community support.  Senator Calvert’s survey of residents found 73% against the proposal.  It was a decisive result and provided a significant lift to the campaign.  No longer could supporters of the Walker plan dismiss its opponents as a vocal minority.

Federal Franklin MHR, Labor’s Harry Quick, has been an outspoken critic of the proposal from the beginning.  SRB Inc is very grateful to Mr Quick for devoting his personal time and energy to assisting the community in expressing its outrage.  Harry Quick’s survey of residents found 67% of respondents were against the destruction of Ralphs Bay. 

And finally, Denison MHR, Duncan Kerr, and Australian Greens Senator, Bob Brown, have been supportive of our efforts and generous with office time and photocopying facilities for the many thousands of newsletters we have distributed on the peninsula.

Of course, our gratitude to these elected members also extends to their ever-helpful staff.

It is unfortunate that only the Lennon ministry remains apparently detached from, and unresponsive to, the clear wishes of the community.  While delegates from our group have met with Environment Minister, Judy Jackson and Economic Development Minister, Lara Giddings, we have been excluded from consideration for inclusion in the Premier’s diary. 
If Premier Lennon scans our community’s submission and formal response to the Walker proposal – with its 2500+ letters, emails and signatures protesting this travesty – he will surely come to understand that this is a community angered, distressed and disillusioned, by what is unfolding on Ralphs Bay. 
The correspondence handed to government reveals that the dollar value of any proposed development fails to convince, if it comes at the cost of a protected area, unspoiled coastline, an already dwindling wetland ecosystem, internationally significant bird habitat, the critically endangered Spotted Handfish colonies in and near Ralphs Bay, community recreational pursuits, and a treasured vista.  The true list is much longer.
Our submission also details the numerous unlawful aspects of the Walker plan.  We believe Local, State and Commonwealth Laws and policies, as well as international conventions and agreements, would be contravened if the Walker plan were to proceed.
Much of what has been, and continues to be written about Ralphs Bay in the media paints the developer in an unflattering light, highlighting the many very pertinent environmental questions the Walker Corporation has never sincerely sought to answer in the public domain.

We have generated a small storm of print and electronic press over the bay in 2004.  Its reach extending from the letters’ pages to talkback radio, statewide print and electronic news, ABC Stateline, the national 7.30 report, Radio National Earhbeat, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age , Business Review Weekly Magazine and the Australian Financial Review.

While the Ralphs Bay ‘story’ has taken something of a breather in recent weeks, this is an inevitable part of the cyclical nature of news.  The Tasmanian media continues to keep a watching brief on the bay.  The next major step – backwards - is most likely to be made by the developer, who recently stated a modified proposal would be put forward early in the New Year.

Effective communications must be sustained until the objective is carried through to its necessary conclusion.  Worried residents cannot rest until the bay is safe, and we who are SRB Inc – drawing on the depth of concern from across Tasmania – will remain a strong and active group as determined as we have always been… ever since this stinking fish first washed up on the mudflats… to see Walker Corporation’s canal estate nightmare off Ralphs Bay and Tasmania’s coastline forever.

To this end, and with the bigger picture always in mind, in November we delivered our submission to the long-overdue Tasmanian State Coastal Policy review.  The submission reflects the goals of SRB Inc, and our conviction that canal estates should be banned in Tasmania as they have been in New South Wales.

It is clear the State Coastal Policy to date has not been implemented to the necessary standard to ensure coastal conservation and genuine sustainability principles as its primary focus.  Through lack of political will at a State Government level, and apparent apathy at the bureaucratic level, the Policy has been allowed – with a few notable exceptions - to become largely irrelevant to decision-makers in local government.

Therefore, it is the position of SRB Inc that a primary focus of the review should be on ensuring the implementation and enforcement of the State Coastal Policy, in line with the wishes of the Tasmanian people in the Tasmania Together process.

As Tasmanians together, and with support from beyond our unspoiled shores, we all can, and must, play our part in saving Ralphs Bay.  It is always a good time to pen an outraged missive to your local MP, or to the newspaper.  Speak out wherever and to whomever you can about what it is that we treasure and why Ralphs Bay must never be sold in the name of greed.

From all at SRB Inc, to all our members and supporters thank you for being part of such an important fight for right and good.  We hope you and yours had a merry and safe Christmas, and we’ll see you again in 2005.



Cassy O’Connor
Communications Coordinator
SRB Inc.