Wilderness Society Tasmania Media Release

28 January 2020

New RTI documents confirm Lake Malbena ‘process’ is selling

off World Heritage wilderness cheap at ‘mates’ rates’
 
● Govt forced to release lease over Halls Island and Halls Hut by Ombudsman under Right to Information

● Annual rent for 10-hectare World Heritage Halls Island on Lake Malbena just $4000

● Lease signed before assessments - Development Application, Reserve Activity Assessment & EPBC Act
referral assessment - completed

The Government was today required by the Ombudsman to release the lease it gave Wild Drake over Halls Island and
Halls Hut. The Halls Island lease confirms just how cheaply the govt values World Heritage wilderness land - $4000 for
10 hectares!

“It’s not surprising that the Government refused to release the lease and licence and had to be forced to by the
Ombudsman because they are yet another clanging indictment on the already-discredited tourism Expression of
Interest ‘process’ and the unpopular Lake Malbena proposal,” said Tom Allen for the Wilderness Society Tasmania.

“Until today, we did not know how much Wild Drake was paying to have the exclusive right to exploit the World
Heritage Halls Island. Now we know it’s $4000 a year once the development is completed, and just$1000 a year in the
meantime, with a measly licence fee of $1 per annum “if demanded”.

“A lot of people would like to pay just $4,000 dollars a year for 10 hectares of pristine World Heritage land, but most
don’t get that opportunity - unless you’re in the privileged position of qualifying for Government’s ‘mates rates’. The
Government must explain how it managed to calculate such a low annual rent when a single Wild Drake customer
would ​pay $4,500​ for a three-night stay. How does the Government make these decisions? The rent wouldn’t even
cover the costs of Parks and Wildlife helicoptering in once a year to inspect the development.

“Worse still, these documents show that the main lease was signed on January 2018, well before the three main
assessment and approvals processes - the Council’s Development Application, the State Government’s Reserve
Activity Assessment (RAA) and the Federal Government’s decision about whether approval is required under the
Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act - were finished. The Federal EPBC Act decision still
hasn’t been made, almost two years after the lease and licence were issued, because the Federal Court sent it back to
the Minister to be made again under the EPBC Act after our successful legal challenge.

“This directly contradicts Peter Gutwein’s ​claim in October​, when he was still Parks Minister, that tourism EOI
proposals do not receive lease and licence agreements “after the fact”. These documents prove they do and that
Mr Gutwein either received incorrect advice or mislead the public.

“The new Premier can change the settings of the tourism EOI process to recover some social licence by it becoming
transparent, collaborating with the public and by encouraging sustainable tourism ventures in local communities
instead of privatising World Heritage wilderness at the exclusion of everyone else. Such reforms aren’t extreme or
ideological as has been claimed but are, in reality, rational, constructive and sorely needed,” said Mr Allen.

The RTI documents can be ​found here​ and below is a grab of the email from the Ombudsman requiring DPIPWE
to release the documents, two years after they were first requested. Further comment: Tom Allen, 0434 614 323
The Wilderness Society Media Release

28 January 2020