Good morning all,

I wanted to extend my appreciation to everyone who has got onboard to sign this petition. I respect everyone’s views and comments online whether for or against this petition. I would also like to respond to some of the comments I have read.

I understand that there are ways to sell gold in Tasmania, however the fact still remains that it is technically unlawful, as all prospected gold, whether on public or PRIVATE property is owned by the crown. So if you were to dig up a monster gold nugget in your back yard, yes that is still the property of the crown.

The largest gold nugget on record found in Tasmania was a monster 243 ounces or 7.5kg. At today’s prices that would be worth up to 1.5 million dollars. So if you found this and then wanted to cash in, who reckons that the buyer would want to know where it came from? Also it would more than. Likely be DNA tested to trace the origin. In Tasmania all gold prospected even with a valid permit is the property of the CROWN. Regardless if you find it in your backyard or the wilderness. A couple of grams, sure no issues, but a 7.5kg nugget might be an issue.

I also appreciate that we don’t want to encourage the wrong sort of people to come to Tasmania searching for gold. I think someone put the comment ‘dickheads’. I am right onboard this, I love this place and the wilderness and definitely do not want to encourage any ‘dickheads’ to come here and take Tassie gold! But think about Tasmanian gold. It is mostly fine alluvial gold found in rivers deep in the Tasmanian wilderness. Most would have watched Rob Parsons on TV or YouTube. He spends hours hiking into remote areas, camps and spends days scouring rivers in a wetsuit to find only a couple of grams of gold on most occasions. His revenue is mostly derived from adds and endorsements and the content he makes, not actually the gold.

Can you imagine these unwanted people ‘dickheads’ going to all that effort for a couple of grams of gold? I don’t think that would be the case at all. Those types of unwanted people drive into the Western Australian desert, hop out of their car and start metal detecting instantly in search of a huge nugget. And they probably would stand a reasonable chance in WA, but in Tassie, I don’t think so.

So in summary, this petition is simply asking for a change in legislation wording. From prospected gold belonging to the crown, changed to belonging to the finder. Fair enough? Someone with a valid prospecting permit who finds gold on public land, or their backyard is the entitled owner of that gold and is able to sell it lawfully.

Thanks for all the support and I hope that this addresses some of the fear and negative comments that have been posted about the issue.