Tasmania’s Bruny Island is proving so popular with tourists there’s nowhere for all the rubbish and “human poo”, state parliament has been told.
Visitor numbers to the secluded getaway south of Hobart have increased by 24% in the past year, Greens MP Rosalie Woodruff said on Wednesday, adding that the destination is being loved to death.
“Bruny Island is being loved to death because of a dramatic increase in tourism numbers ... but there’s been no change in infrastructure or services,” she said of the destination known for its cheese, fudge, seafood, wine and wilderness.
“There’s an extreme lack of toilets and rubbish bins: a massive spike in reports of human poo and illegal rubbish dumping,” she said, and called on the premier Will Hodgman, who is also the tourism minister, to take action.
Hodgman denied the Liberal administration had done nothing to handle extra visitor numbers to Bruny Island, pointing to increased ferry services and said further works were in the pipeline.
“I have had a sensible discussion with the mayor about some of these matters and how we might work together ... to provide the necessary infrastructure and amenities to make sure Bruny Island is properly cared for and looked after,” he said.
The issue became pressing this season, with a resident on the sparsely populated island reporting of piles of faeces and toilet paper beside walking tracks and, in some cases, on a resident’s property.
Concerns about instances of dangerous driving and an increase in roadkill have also been raised.
Australian Associated Press contributed to this report
