Flood of protests over wild rivers call

MINERS and farmers argue that the latest wild rivers declarations were rushed to curry electoral favour with the green movement.

QUEENSLAND has locked up an expanse of western channel country drained by Lake Eyre, unleashing criticism by miners and farmers that the latest wild rivers declarations were rushed to curry electoral favour with the green movement.

The Queensland Resources Council said listing of the Georgina and Diamantina river catchments happened only two weeks after public submissions closed, with "politically-driven haste".

Farming lobby AgForce also hit out at the state government, which is gearing up for an election early next year, and warned that the declarations could erode rural property values and the livelihood of communities.

"There is no way the minister and her department could have given proper consideration to industry submissions in just two weeks," QRC boss Michael Roche said, in a shot at state Environment Minister Vicky Darling.

Anna Bligh yesterday rejected the complaints as predictable, insisting that consultation had spanned two years and 140 meetings with concerned interests, including miners.

The Premier said the government had acted to protect the far western rivers at the urging of local graziers, who wanted to avoid "the sort of degradation we have seen in the Murray-Darling" system.

"What these protections do is stop open-cut mining close to some of our absolutely pristine river systems, so it is hardly surprising that some mining interests would complain about that," Ms Bligh said.

She insisted the government had got the balance right without putting the whole 500,000sq km area out of bounds.

Open-cut mines, large dams and irrigation would be banned in high-preservation and floodplain management areas covering about 10 per cent of the Queensland side of the basin.

Drilling for coal-seam gas and oil would be banned in especially sensitive sections of that zone, and elsewhere would have to be at least 200m away from declared watercourses.

However, all existing approved activities would continue, Ms Darling said.

Mr Roche contrasted the fast-tracked listing of the Georgina and Diamantina systems with that of another Lake Eyre river, the Cooper Creek.

"How can it be that a decision on the Cooper Creek took seven months following the close of submissions, but the huge Georgina and Diamantina areas could be decided in less than two weeks?" Mr Roche said.

"This Lake Eyre basin region is equal to one-third of Queensland's land mass, is thought to be highly prospective for minerals and petroleum resources, but remains still lightly explored."

He said the only conclusion for "this travesty of justice" was the state Labor government trying to lock in the support of the green movement ahead of the impending election. Drew Wagner, of AgForce, said Ms Bligh wanted to tap the pro-green vote at the potential expense of rural communities.

The Wilderness Society's national campaign director, Lyndon Schneiders, foreshadowing the wild rivers declaration in The Weekend Australian on Saturday, wrote that they were unlikely to survive a change of government in Queensland. The latest declarations extend the reach of wild rivers protection from the tip of Cape York to the border with South Australia in the state's southwestern corner.