If you are fortunate enough to enjoy a light plane flight over our South-West you will understand even without putting a boot on the ground.

It is partly for this reason that a large slice of the state is listed on the World Heritage register. More than half the state enjoys legal protection from development of most kinds.

The other reason for a level of protection far exceeding any other state is politics. Tasmania has been the environmental guinea pig for all successive federal and state governments of both persuasions over the past 40 plus years, since Lake Pedder.

Successive governments sought to either hone their environmental credentials on remote Tasmania or use the state to harvest mainland green preferences. It was always so easy to court big city mainland votes by making environmental decisions in a small state with minimal electoral clout.

That's the history of it. The Tasmanian government now wants to manage prudent tourism development in our World Heritage area and this ought to be done in a way that does nothing whatsoever to destroy wilderness values.

This concern was well argued by Greens national leader Christine Milne in a recent article. Tasmania has a truly magnificent World Heritage area to be proud of, not fight over.

The problem with the government is that it has a gung-ho track record on the environment and forestry and will need to convince people that it desires nothing more than prudent tourism development in our iconic wilderness.

If this can be achieved the government will have no trouble marginalising extreme views on either side of the debate.

However, if there is an ulterior motive, the government deservedly has a fight on its hands, which in turn will play into the hands of its opponents.

- BARRY PRISMALL, deputy editor.