Cable Car to Ascent Hobart's Mount Wellington?

The Tasmania Liberals have made a proposed cable car at Hobart's Mount Wellington an issue in the upcoming Tasmanian state election.

While not undertaking to fund the potential project, State Liberal leader Will Hodgman has pledged $200,000 for a feasibility study if his party wins government.

Hodgman said the study would ensure that any proposal for a cable car would be environmentally and economically sound and visually unobtrusive, stating "Mt Wellington is one of Hobartâs most spectacular tourism assets and it is unacceptable that it is inaccessible to tourists in winter."

The actual development would still have to be funded with private money and Hodgman has not committed to a starting date for construction.

Last week Labor candidate Madeline Ogilvie put forward a proposal for a funicular or incline railway from The Springs to the top of Mount Wellington.

Ogilvie's great-uncle Albert Ogilvie, Tasmania's Labor premier in the 1930s, commissioned the first road from The Springs to the pinnacle as a means of creating work during the Depression.

Other tourism policies announced by the Liberals in the run up to the Tasmanian election include:

• $6.5 million for Tasmanian branding;
• $120,000 for a food and wine tourism action plan;
• $1 million for eco-tourism grants;
• An extra $4 million for promoting and organising events;
• $300,000 per year for the Tasmanian Convention Bureau;
• $250,000 to fund a feasibility study into the Lake Margaret tourism site;
• Providing $250,000 for a Devonport Heritage Tourism Trail. 

4th August 2010 - WORLD HERITAGE LISTING FOR CONVICT SITES