Scrapping Wild Rivers legislation 'a priority' says an incoming MP

TONY Abbott's plan to overturn Queensland's controversial Wild Rivers law will be a priority if the Coalition gets to form government

TONY Abbott's plan to overturn Queensland's controversial Wild Rivers law will be a priority if the Coalition gets to form government

After reclaiming his seat of Leichhardt in far north Queensland -- lost in 2007 to Labor -- the Liberal National Party's Warren Entsch yesterday said outrage at the preservation law by Aboriginal communities had lifted his vote.

Striking down the Wild Rivers legislation through a private member's bill sponsored by the Opposition Leader, and protecting the rights of local fishermen, were among his "absolute priorities".

The law was rolled out by Anna Bligh's state Labor government on Cape York Peninsula despite protests that it put declared rivers off-limits to many forms of development, depriving locals of opportunity. In June, the Senate passed an opposition-sponsored bill to override the legislation. It now has to pass through the House of Representatives to become law.

If the Coalition forms government, with the help of independent Bob Katter who has long opposed the Wild Rivers legislation, there is a possibility the kill bill will succeed.

But Mr Entsch's assertion that the issue had worked for him in Cape indigenous communities was not borne out by all of the polling numbers, with the conservative vote going backwards in some cases.

In the community of Lockhart River, on the eastern side of the Cape, there was a 37 per cent swing against the LNP; on the opposite side of the peninsula, in Aurukun, one of the larger communities, there was a 20 per cent swing against the conservatives. But in some of the smaller towns, such as Bamaga, Hope Vale and Coen, there was a marked swing towards Mr Entsch and the LNP.

Coen local Dion Creek, who is a traditional owner of the Archer and Stewart River basins, yesterday said he thought the Wild Rivers issue was one of the driving forces behind Mr Entsch's victory.

Mr Creek, who is involved in a High Court challenge against the Wild Rivers legislation, said the return of the Coalition stalwart had given him and the Cape optimism. "We've been saying from the start that the whole Wild Rivers legislation is not based on science (but) on Greens preferences," he said.

The Greens argue that the laws halt only environmentally destructive activities such as in-stream mining and do not override native title rights.

JAMIE WALKER, SARAH ELKS