Decision looms in battle over Tasmania's wild heart

They were looking for something, anything, capable of ferrying them 50 metres, across the glassy surface of Lake Malbena, to what appeared to be an island hut.

A quick scan of the shoreline revealed a craggy cairn, a sure sign someone had squirrelled something useful away.

As they freed the corroded chest and eased it open, their prayers were answered in the form of an inflatable pool toy.

Suffice to say the limp little raft had seen better days; its plastic oars were brittle with age, and the foot pump had perished. But with a bit of old-fashioned huffing and puffing the pair got it into the water.

French, who made the perilous crossing to Halls Island alone, was happy to discover a handmade dinghy on the other side and soon enough he and mate Ric Dowling were at the threshold, marvelling at the cabin's simple charm.

"The builder clearly had a love of place, the old hut blending beautifully with the landscape," French recalls in his new book about Tasmania's Western Lakes.

Its walls were a mix of yellow gum logs and metal sheeting, painted green for camouflage. It had a neat little window, a tin chimney, and a porch carefully stacked with firewood.

Inside were roughly hewn bunk beds and above the fireplace hung a wooden plaque carved with the year 1955.

There was also a note.

It was from one Elizabeth McQuilkin who explained she was custodian of the hut built by her father Reg Hall, the founder of The Walls of Jerusalem National Park in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.

Walkers were welcome to use the hut, she wrote, as long as they didn't stay too long, respected it and reported any damage.

In the decades since French first visited the hut in 1985, the nature-loving fly fisher has been back around 100 times.

But he fears the kind of spontaneous visits he and others have long enjoyed to the now heritage-listed hut might soon be difficult, if not impossible, thanks to private enterprise.

French's adversary is former friend and colleague Daniel Hackett, who has spent years trying to obtain the approvals he needs to establish a helicopter tourism business focused on the island.

To say Mr Hackett's plan is divisive would be an understatement, with opponents incensed for many reasons.

There's the passionate debate about whether commercial interests have any place in a national park in a World Heritage area - something the Tasmanian government supports in pursuit of tourism revenue.

There's the alleged lack of transparency around the government's decision to grant Mr Hackett's company, Wild Drake, a long-term lease over the whole of Halls Island.

That occurred after Mr Hackett agreed to take over the role of the hut's custodian, when Elizabeth McQuilkin began asking around for help when the task became too much.

And there's the highly emotive issue of Reg Hall's legacy.

John Hall is quite sure that if his father was still alive, he would be appalled by the plan for Halls Island, and what it means for the hut.

After building it in the mid-1950s, Reg made sure that hikers attached to the walking clubs of Launceston and Hobart knew it was there to be used, stocked with emergency provisions for whoever might need them.

John is desperately hoping for an emphatic no from the federal government, which is days away from granting or denying approvals needed for the heli-tourism venture to proceed.

He says he and Elizabeth want the hut to remain a refuge for genuine bushwalkers, not a commercial venture for a privileged few that will bring unwelcome air traffic into a serene World Heritage area.

For his part, Mr Hackett says he accepts that people are passionate about the place, and their access to it.

But he says his project is a far cry from the exclusionary, luxury development some have made it out to be.

His plan is to build what he calls a small camp, taking just six paying customers at a time for short stays of three to four days. Lightweight pods will provide the accommodation, and will be dropped in from the air.

He plans to run no more than 30 short trips annually, spanning no more than 120 days in any given year, and the chopper landing pad will be a sheet of rock adjacent to the island.

He also points to a public access plan that he's developed to ensure people are not locked out, the money he's spent on publicly accessible amenities including toilets, and of his role in pushing for heritage listing for the hut.

However he has also indicated that it will be a case of paying customers first, and members of the public will have to ask for permission to be on the island.

"They will still have to check in with us, to make sure there's not 10 groups there on one day because that's bad for every user, whether you are private or public.

"But beyond that, they've got a right to go if we're not there."

Mr Hackett feels he's been vilified during the long and bitter battle over his development, accepted by the Tasmanian government under a process it set up to encourage tourism in and near national parks, reserves and on Crown land.

The government says the process is about expanding the state's unique visitor experiences, through best-practice environmental tourism.

But for the likes of Dan Broun that's beyond the pale.

As campaign manager for a group called Fishers and Walkers Tasmania, he's been a vocal opponent of what's planned for Halls Island, and says all Tasmanians, and all Australians should be taking notice.

"Essentially they are eroding wilderness values to create a tourism opportunity. And they are giving away public land (under) peppercorn lease arrangements in order to do it," he says.

"This exclusive possession lease over an island within the Walls of Jerusalem National Park is a precedent and now we have to ask Daniel permission to go to a part of our national park."

Greg French sees the Tasmanian government's approach to opening up public, wild places as the thin edge of the wedge, and something all Australians should be concerned about.

"It's about a whole lot more than one little lake and one little hut," he says.

"There's this big risk of contagion. If successful, it will be a model used to attack other Australian national parks and World Heritage areas. And that's why people should be concerned about it."

The Tasmanian government says tourism remains one of the state's biggest industries and is critical for economic health and jobs.

It says commercial developments have been undertaken in parks and reserves for many years and must go through all the normal approval processes, and in the case of Halls Island, public access was being supported by Wild Drake's free public access program.

The federal environment department is expected to announce its decision in coming days, after assessing the project under federal laws including impacts to national and World Heritage values, and protected animals and plants.

They include the endangered Tasmanian Wedge-tailed Eagle, a notoriously sky breeder that's easily disrupted by human activity.

The Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service needs the federal decision before it can consider any final assessment of the development.

Australian Associated Press