Please join us for our August Tamar Valley Leaders Lunch with Ilise Bourke – Director Infrastructure Review , Department of State Growth
The Tamar Estuary Management Taskforce (TEMT) was established in 2017 and is a voluntary collaboration of a number of local councils and organisations that have responsibility or interactions with the Tamar.
Initially, TEMT focused on the River Health Action Plan and getting work underway on a $130 million project to improve Launceston’s stormwater system and protect the waterways from stock damage through fencing exclusions. With this work underway, TEMT turned its focus to issues around sedimentation in early 2020. To support this, it commissioned the Tamar Estuary and Esk Rivers (TEER) Program to undertake a scientific review of sedimentation in the estuary as well as evaluate a number of regularly raised proposals to address this issue. Noting the scientific advice and the determined behaviour of sedimentation, TEMT then considered the social and economic impacts of the issue and how these could be addressed. This lead to a proposal to work with the science through revegetation and wetland restoration to reduce sedimentation and to address other impacts through adaptive infrastructure, such as moving currently impacted areas like the Seaport Marina further into the river channels to work with the natural depth of the waterways. Adaptive infrastructure creates opportunities for precincts and interconnectivity around the estuary, improves liveability and commercial opportunities, allows engagement with native flora and fauna in a city centre, unlike anywhere else in the world and celebrate Launceston’s history and culture. TEMT will be consulting publicly on the draft vision commencing in August 2021.
Ilise Bourke, Director of Infrastructure Review and Evaluation in Infrastructure Tasmania is supporting TEMT’s policy work and will be presenting on the journey to date behind the vision. Ilise is an experienced project manager having built a career in government policy and strategic management across a range of portfolios, both in Tasmania and interstate. Gary Swain, Deputy Secretary of Infrastructure and Transport in the Department of State Growth chairs the TEMT and Ilise works closely with Gary on supporting the policy and project work of the TEMT. Ilise also works alongside colleagues from other TEMT organisations to bring together a range of skills, expertise and local experience with the estuary to provide sound, informed and tested advice to TEMT.