Rivers scandal a blight on Bligh

WHEN next you see a "Save Cape York'' bumper sticker on a car in a suburban shopping mall, ask the car's muddle-headed owner: save Cape York from what?

The Save Cape York campaign is a Wilderness Society special, blessed by Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and given a big nod by the Rudd government. But the campaign has been based on lies and run by a green-tinged state bureaucracy that takes its riding instructions from the environmental movement. It's a textbook example of what happens when the rights of locals are trampled by a state government beholden to a special interest group that claims it can deliver election-changing blocs of votes in strategic electorates. It's backed by a federal government that would prefer to acquire international kudos through the declaration of a World Heritage area than stand up for the rights of its own citizens. Cape York Peninsula is under no threat. It doesn't need saving. The campaign was devised to provide a vehicle for the Wilderness Society to convince the Queensland and federal Labor parties its extreme environmentalists could become significant political players. Claiming the cape was under threat from the timber industry and mining, the society induced the Queensland Government to introduce the Wild Rivers Act, effectively locking up the Cape and freezing out locals, including the traditional owners. Cape York indigenous leader Noel Pearson pointed out some of the many falsehoods and inconsistencies in the society's claims at a meeting in Cairns late last week where he addressed a submission prepared by his brother, Gerhardt, to the Queensland Government's integrity and accountability review - a laughable project in that historically corrupt state. Pearson's submission - which the government has not posted on its website - focuses on the issue of transparency, a quality lacking in Queensland government processes, and highlights the lack of checks and balances that led to the government rushing through gazettal of the Wild Rivers Act within two weeks of the March state election. This was done under pressure from the Wilderness Society and without any consideration of the rights and interests of the local Aboriginal communities. Pearson said Cape York was under no threat from logging. There's only one sawmill at Cooktown, a small, historic operation dealing with a single species, Darwin stringy bark, that proliferates across the Top End. Nor is the Cape under threat from mining. The two mines that operate have been in place for about 50 years. But the ``Save the Cape'' campaign has a catchy slogan, and its supporters live in middle-class electorates well away from those who have first-hand knowledge of the area. Pearso believes environmental activists who used to pressure the government from outside the public service are now on the inside, writing policy so it fits their own agenda. The Queensland public service is no longer impartial, he says, offering as evidence that then natural resources and water minister Craig Wallace denied traditional owners an extension of time to lodge submissions. Pearson says this was on the advice of the Wilderness Society, despite Wallace considering late submissions from others, including ones solicited by the society. There was no imminent threat of development to the so-called wild rivers, and no need to rush any declarations in relation to the rivers, yet the minister proceeded regardless of local indigenous communities' concerns. Pearson rightly asks why Wallace advised Aborigines from the Lockhart, Archer and Stewart River areas to seek the society's support before the government would consider their request for an extension to comment on the government's proposal. It was a decision to be made by the minister (Wallace), not by a proxy, and certainly not by a lobby group well-known to oppose the local Aborigines' claim to their traditional area. Yet the minister insisted they needed to get the permission of the Wilderness Society, not the government, to proceed. Although Anna Bligh claimed last December the declaration had been "carefully crafted to get the balance right between graziers, industry, traditional owners and the environment'', there was no consultation with the traditional owners from the time formal submissions closed on November 22 last year and the April gazettal of the rivers legislation. Further, although Aboriginal communities were denied the chance to make late submissions, 792 submissions deemed not to have been made "properly'' were considered - and most of these late submissions were from Wilderness Society supporters. Despite the lack of transparency in the legislative process, some idea of the workings of the green-tinged bureaucracy can be gleaned from Bligh's claims that only three rivers are involved (although 13 are named), and when the legislation covers everything in the catchment of those rivers - that is, wherever rain falls that may eventually make its way into the 100 or so rivers and creeks on Cape York. In its bid to keep the lid on this scandal, the Bligh government has not released any documents relating to the wild rivers declaration for nearly five months, despite the Premier's claims to be a champion of transparency. There are no review or appeal processes, and those immediately affected - the local Aboriginal communities - have been denied natural justice. Queenslander Kevin Rudd, his eyes fixed on his international reputation, doesn't want to know. He hasn't lifted a finger to help the most vulnerable in our community fight against a massive injustice - again.