yingina/Great Lake Community Ignored in Development Plan for yet Another Bike Track
1. Friends of Great Lake is a community not-for-profit organisation established to provide a voice to the residents, shack owners and current users of the yingina/Great Lake area in response to the immediate threat of large privatisation of the land surrounding the lake.
2. The John’s Group PTY LTD has been secretly holding talks with key stakeholders in the Central Highlands Municipality for over 12mths and establishing “in principal” support from Tasmanian Government representatives to establish a 107km long “multi use” Adventure Trail which will circumnavigate the entirety of yingina/Great Lake.
3. The trail is being marketed as “multi use” with Bushwalkers, Mountain Bikers and E-Bikers proposed to all share use.
4. The proposed trail cuts through large areas of Hydro Tasmania, Parks and Wildlife and World Heritage Area land and is being constructed to “enduro” standard, which is designed to facilitate future mountain bike competition events.
5. The trail is part of a larger tourism conglomerate with the proponent seeking to construct huts and toileting facilities along the lake shore and establishing the use of a large “pennicot style” boat to collect and drop off walkers and cyclists at intervals around the trail. A simple ABN search clearly shows the beginnings of a planned tourism monopoly for the area.
6. A Feasibility Study commissioned by The John’s Group in 2020 (at the height of Tasmania’s first COVID crisis) falsely claims local support for the project. In the study it is stated that “overall support for the proposed Great Lake Trail was positive. Development in general was seen as favourable because of a desire for more economic and employment opportunities in the area”, when in reality, of the 58 ratepayers contacted (under 2% of the rate paying population of the Central Highlands Council Municipality) over 50% of them reside in Bothwell – a regional town located over 70kms away from the proposed site.
7. To date the proponent has deliberately avoided community consultation and taken heavy-handed action to silence individuals who voice opposition to the project. One individual received the threat of legal action and was forced to shut down a Facebook group, which was established to share information with the wider community who had previously been unaware of the proposal.
8. Friends of Great Lake has also established a change.org petition in response to the proposal, which has amassed around 1200 signatures in just several months, and run several Facebook groups/pages, which collectively have over 700 followers. https://www.change.org/p/great-lake-community-stop-the-bike-trail
9. The proponent has engaged PR company Timmins Ray Public Relations to undertake what they are calling “community consultation” however the consultation is only being offered to select members of the community who must first offer an expression of interest to attend some form of meeting in 2022. Timmins Ray are also currently procured by the Department of Premier & Cabinet for Public Relations matters – giving the proponent even more leverage to secure government support for the project.
10. Given that the proponent has been actively meeting with (and procuring under-the-desk support from) major stakeholders such as Guy Barnett, Parks and Wildlife, The Central Highlands Council, Tasmanian Aboriginal Heritage Council and Anglers Alliance Tasmania; and with construction due to start in 2022, the proponent’s blatant disregard for, and active mis-representation of, the yingina/Great Lake community is nothing short of deplorable.
11. Reflecting on the Lake Malbena proposal which has recently been withdrawn following a 6 year battle, we believe the issue of private development of public land – and in particular World Heritage Areas – also exposes the current government’s corrupt and sneaky agenda of facilitating corporate growth above and beyond the needs of its tax paying citizens.
12. The Great Lake community currently has limited to no access to health care, banking and other services that suburban communities may take for granted. The proposal to privatise the area for predominantly tourist use is heartbreaking for residents, users and shack owners when they are crying out for accessible and reliable services in the area. Even the infrastructure is insufficient for the current residents and visitors with deteriorating and unsafe roads, mobile black spots, TV black spots, and regular power outages.
13. Friends of Great Lake is urgently seeking media coverage for this proposal – with the need to inform the public being our highest priority.