Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Good morning, colleagues. A few months ago in Burnie there was a major pro-mining economic development rally. It was largely organised by the Australian Workers Union under the motto of 'Our Tarkine, Our Future'. Effectively, what that large rally supported and demanded and expected was that we should be able to have a balance, a proper responsible, reasonable balance, between economic development in our region along with protecting those very important parts of the environment that we believe are worth protecting.

From that rally, there was a major petition that I brought to the parliament and personally presented, with members of the Australian Workers Union and other community representatives of that rally, to Minister Burke. Subsequent to that rally and that petition, Minister Burke ruled, going through proper, responsible and due process as he always does, that there would not be a blanket lifting of the National Heritage listing of the Tarkine region, but he did nominate significant cultural sites for Indigenous cultural history in the area.

Subsequent to that the minister also gave permission for Shree Minerals to pursue mining on their site at Nelson Bay River and subsequent to that a number of hard green individuals and organisations in Tasmania essentially declared war on that decision and said that they would oppose it at every step. Last Saturday I attended another rally in Tullah on the west coast. Two thousand people attended and demanded that we again support responsible development in the Tarkine region. They are sick and tired of having minority groups trying to derail what we regard as balanced, responsible development.

I was given a petition by Joy Gillies from Circular Head. Over 300 people signed this petition that I gave to Minister Burke. I will be seeking leave to table this as a document as soon as I finish. I say to those hard green groups: 'Be responsible. Get rid of the old politics and look to restoring balance in Tasmania. We need important economic development along with environmental protection.' I seek leave to table the petition as a document.

Geoff Lyons (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted. The document will be forwarded to the Standing Committee on Petitions for its consideration. It will be accepted subject to confirmation by the committee that it conforms to the standing orders.