Yet, he and his wife Lili Sun-Christie are opening new tea rooms in Hobart in a fortnight! Do they need tourists?

Elected in Christie’s place was Anna Reynolds, previously a Greens candidate, “but ran unaligned in this poll”, according to the ABC.

So can we expect tourists to be welcomed with open arms by a green mayor? 

Tasmania receives $1.77 for every dollar in the GST carve-up, whereas NSW receives 85c. We are propping up a limp Tasmanian economy. Almost all Tasmanian industry has been closed down, and even agriculture is struggling. Tourism is their shining star.

We are often told that one of the growth industries for jobs, and export earnings, is the tourism sector.

In a poverty-stricken state like Tasmania with wages 14 per cent below the national average, and poor employment prospects for young people, it would be reasonable to think that encouraging every tourist dollar would be a state priority. 

The current Liberal state government is trying. 

Overseas tourism has increased 18 per cent a year to make Tasmania the nation’s fastest-growing tourist destination creating a $2.33 billion industry.

Detractors claim it is fuelling development in sensitive areas.

Development should lead to the creation of more jobs.

But Tasmania has job-destroyers like the Bob Brown Foundation. They have branded tourists “the green shoe brigade”, worse than loggers.

A new public hut has been opened at Lake Tahune, near Frenchmans Cap, partly funded with a donation from Dick Smith. The criticism is that it is “too slick for a wilderness experience” because it has comforts like electric lighting!

And then there are cruise ships and Asian charter flights! If only we had Tasmania’s beauty in Wagga we’d be screaming, “Send them here!” 

“Freycinet, where the walk to the Wineglass Bay Lookout is at times as busy as a city street, has grown from 232,000 to 310,000 annual visits in the past three years, while Cradle Mountain has surged from 199,000 to 280,000 in the same period,” another report reads.

We’ve been to both places several times. The walk to Wineglass Bay is well defined. The track is wide, but rough and steep. Walkers keep to the track. 

Cradle Mountain has boardwalks along many parts of the trails to the top, meaning little harm can be done. Dove Lake, below Cradle Mountain, has a wide walking path.

Tasmanians should be congratulated for using these natural resources to create jobs.

Here is the point. Every community uses its natural advantages to support itself economically. In Wagga it’s the land. What would Wagga be without agricultural produce, and livestock?

In Tasmania it’s “the natural experience” that attracts tourists. So are plans for an $88 million cableway and enclosed viewing centre at Cradle Mountain and Freycinet a step too far?

Maybe, but then I think of the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway at Cairns. It is in the wet tropics of Queensland’s World Heritage Area. It has won more than 25 awards and along with the neighbouring Kuranda Railway is one of Cairn’s major tourist drawcards.

Many overseas tourists are also older, or dare I say, less fit! They are cashed-up, and perhaps time-poor. They want to see Tasmania, all of it, and will pay. One or two lengthy walks maybe, but they don’t want to go home and say that they saw just one attraction.

Tastefully done, more tourist facilities do not have to mean degradation.

As I wrote in one Weekender story some years back, very many first-rate attractions in Tasmania are deliberately “hidden”. I refer particularly to the walking trail through overgrown rainforest along the old (closed in 1925) North Mt Lyall railway to East Pillinger, on Macquarie Harbour. It’s near Queenstown, but you won’t find this one in your tourist brochures!

We must protect our natural heritage, but we must also insist that Tasmania contribute it’s share to Australia’s economy.

With just over 500,000 people Tasmania still elects 12 senators. Only four are Liberal, so if Bob Brown’s mob can just ban a few more jobs ….