An unofficial survey of business owners in Westbury's two main streets has found that none of the 23 surveyed had been consulted directly on the proposal for a prison in their town, potentially contradicting claims from the government.
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You & Me PT owner Liza deLautour surveyed the businesses last week after Tasmanian Government ministers visited Westbury last Wednesday.
During the visit, Ms deLautour claimed that Corrections Minister Elise Archer asserted that the government had consulted with local businesses.
So Ms deLautour decided to find out for herself.
"She told me that she'd been informed - or her sources had informed her - that the business consultation had begun, and it was being received very positively," she said.
"I said, 'hang on, no one has talked to me about this, so when did it happen?'
Meander Valley Council: Government needs to 'lift its game' on prison consultation
"I really wanted to know what the people think. Sure, I might be against the prison, but I'm really keen to know what the people think and if consultation is actually happening."
Ms deLautour visited 23 businesses on Thursday and Friday with two questions: "Have you been consulted about the proposed Northern Prison site?" and "Do you think that the prison on the preferred site will make a positive, negative or neutral impact on your business?"
She requested their response be from a business perspective, rather than a personal view.
While some had been visited by government MPs, none described this as "real or thorough consultation" and that it often involved informal conversations with customers.
Ms deLautour - who was among those to make a small donation to the group Westbury Region Against the Prison - said the town was just wanting honesty and transparency from the government.
"If they were here for a chit chat with businesses, then call it a chit chat. Don't say you're walking around doing consultation when you're not," she said.
The government maintained that it had directly consulted with businesses in Westbury, including shopfront businesses in Westbury, Hagley and Exton which had been provided communication material.
MORE ON THE WESTBURY PRISON:
- Many Westbury residents 'hostile' to jail plan
- Northern Tasmanian prison site revealed
- Northern Tasmania Development Corporation defends prison
- Westbury should sense opportunity, mayor of council with three prisons says
- Meander councillor John Temple questions prison plans
- Elise Archer talks up proposed Northern Regional Prison
- Caught in the middle: Where Westbury really stands on proposed prison
- Alternative prison sites revealed under RTI
Others had engaged through public information sessions, by phone or by email.
Corrections Minister Elise Archer said the visit to Westbury last Wednesday was part of the consultation process.
"We are doing our job as elected members to consult both formally and informally with residents of the Meander Valley and during a recent visit, along with the Premier and some of my Lyons colleagues, we took the opportunity to talk with business owners and residents while in the north of the state," she said.
"We heard constructive and informative feedback about the preferred prison site, including many positive comments.
"The Government has been very clear from the outset that this project should go through standard council planning (and related consultation) processes and we remain strongly of that view."
The Liberal Party also commissioned phone polling of Northern Tasmanian residents, independent of the government, asking for their general view of having a prison in their area.