Reports that Woodside is shelving its planned Browse gas project at James Price Point could signal a big win for the Kimberley and the environment alike, the Greens said today.

"These are very encouraging reports and it is important that Woodside and the WA Government announce the decision, if it has been made," Senator Rachel Siewert said.

 The Australian Greens stated a more clever approach was needed to grow Tasmanian tourism demand on Asian markets, with particular emphasis on ‘experiential’ tourism services developed in foreign languages.

 Responding to the Tasmanian Government’s release of its Asian Century White Paper Greens Tourism Spokesperson Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said demand could be driven via technological development and innovation.

Commenting on the TICT report on the importance of Tasmania's tourism marketing budget, Australian Greens tourism spokesperson Senator Whish-Wilson stated:

"The report from Deloitte Access Economics shows how important tourism marketing is to the entire economy of Tasmania, not just in tourism jobs but in positive flow on effects to other industries."

"Whilst Premier Lara Giddings has recently acknowledged how crucial tourism is to Tasmania, she must explain why considerable funds were taken out of the tourism budget in 2010 -11."

The Australian Greens Tourism spokesperson Peter Whish-Wilson stated today, “The Party is glad Tasmania’s beautiful and rare world heritage areas had been yet again recognised as helping underwrite our tourism industry and economy.

“It’s great news the Tasmanian Government has committed $300,000 to promoting visitor numbers to our wilderness World Heritage areas..

“Our wild places are valuable because they are rare, and recognised as such, judging by the ever-increasing numbers of visitors to the state.

 The Australian Greens have welcomed the release of the Wellington Park Management Trust’s summary of representations from the last round of reviews of the Wellington Park Management Plan.

Senator Peter Whish-Wilson stated it was interesting to note that out of the 226 representations only 10% of submissions supported a cable car proposal. 

 “Of that only six representations out of the 25 supporting a cable car also supported development outside of the Springs area.

The Australian Greens have called for the drafting and implementation of a tourism recovery plan as an integral part of the process of re-building areas affected by the continuing Tasmanian bush fires.

Tourism spokesperson Senator Peter Whish-Wilson stated it was imperative to not only work toward re-building peoples’ homes and essential infrastructure but also the regional economy.

Feedback provided to the Australian Greens by many stakeholders in the Tasmanian wine industry, including the industry’s peak body, Wine Industry Tasmania (WIT), is they are concerned about Labor’s plans to incentivise the aggressive quadrupling of grape plantings in the state.

Whilst supporting the principle of schemes to drive new investment and jobs in the Tasmanian wine sector, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson stated any package of incentives to grow the Tasmanian wine industry must be grounded upon commercial realities.

The Australian Greens have called for Geoff Dixon to temporarily step down from his role with Tourism Australia until the dispute between it and Qantas can be resolved.

Senator Peter Whish-Wilson stated having a public spat between our national airline and our national tourism body could harm our international reputation.

I recently met with Sky Rail owner and consultant Dr Ken Chapman in Cairns and he described the business case for a cable car on Mount Wellington as very complicated and far from certain to be economically viable.

Any serious push for a Mount Wellington cable car has in the past resulted in community division. In 1984 there was a serious push for a cable car and again in 1993 and on both occasions there was no economic backing, the project was not viable and the cable car was put aside.