Northern Regional Prison site

Elise Archer,Attorney-General and Minister for Corrections

The Tasmanian Government understands the importance of protecting and managing the environment, while progressing infrastructure developments.

The Northern Regional Prison is no exception and we will be fully cognisant of the local environment during this process.

It is important to note that information released under the recent RTI includes information on natural values that is now out of date. The vegetation community present on the site was reclassified approximately five years ago when it was determined to be of a different, non-threatened type.

The site does not contain the values for which it was originally purchased, and indeed for more than a decade, consideration has been given to allowing the land to be sold. It does not contain pristine forest, but shows evidence of a very long history of timber harvesting and more recently illegal firewood collection, stock grazing, rubbish dumping and shooting.

The Tasmanian Land Conservancy was notified of the decision not to proceed with the transfer of the informal reserve prior to the announcement of the site as the new site for the Northern Regional Prison. This land is not a reserve.

It is important to note that the prison is likely to only require a footprint of approximately 15 hectares of the 70 hectare site, providing opportunities to manage any environmental features on the site.

We remain committed to delivering on our election commitment to build a Northern Regional Prison in an effective and timely manner to address the challenges facing the State’s correctional system left by Labor.

This project will support more than 1000 jobs and deliver an economic boost of $500 million to the region at a time when Tasmanians need it most.

/Public Release. View in full here.