Queensland and federal Labor on June 20 sent a World Heritage nomination for seven locations to UNESCO in Paris to lock up much of the natural assets of Cape York Peninsula without the expressed consent of local Aborigines and Islanders.
In spite of intense pressure and alleged financial backhanders from Labor, sources close to Cape York Land Council told Cairns News the CYLC board had not signed off on the nominations. Nor had most other Aboriginal Prescribed Body Corporations on Cape York.
Fearing another Wild Rivers lockdown debacle enacted by Labor in 2007 and torn up by the Liberals 11 years ago, Aboriginal elders told Cairns News they had enough problems trying to do anything constructive with their vast native title estate and did not want further restrictions or total control exercised over their land by Paris-based UNESCO.
Federal Labor has made the nominations without consent of the Indigenous representative body, Cape York Land Council or Traditional Owners from the locations which have been nominated.
The federal Environment Department’s website states traditional owner consent is required for a nomination: “The Australian Government is committed to a world heritage nomination for appropriate areas of Cape York Peninsula, subject to Traditional Owner consent.
“The Australian Government’s commitment to Traditional Owner consent respects the rights of Indigenous people and the nomination will only proceed for those areas where Traditional Owners have given their consent.” https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/cape-york-nomination.pdf
Sources said traditional owner Mike Ross of Olkola in Central Cape York, did not consent to the Olkola nomination (formerly Dixie Station), south west of Musgrave or did the Wuthati people, claimants of former Shelbourne Bay Pastoral Holding and the site of the World’s largest, purest silica sand deposit, said to be worth more than $3 billion by the World Bank in 2004. Today it would be considerably more.
Others on the list include McIlwraith Range National Park, Restoration Island National Park, and Quinkan {sandstone} Park near Laura, which features extensive Aboriginal rock art galleries. Olkola and Wuthati PBC’s have been contacted for comment.
UNESCO states it would not accept a nomination without the full consent of all indigenous owners.
Liberal Member for the federal electorate of Leichardt which extends from Cairns to the PNG border in the Torres Strait is Warren Entsch who does not support the nomination.
In a recent parliamentary speech he asked how UNESCO could do a better job than traditional owners of managing the proposed sites and suggested the consultation undertaken to date was “arguably misleading.”
“The approach proposed by the government to enlist this region under the auspices of UNESCO is not only flawed, but potentially detrimental to the communities that call it home.
“For decades indigenous communities have fought tirelessly to reclaim and secure land rights; these efforts and struggles are now being undermined.
“Both state and federal Labor governments have effectively sidelined these communities in favour of an international body; they are ignoring their voices from what I understand , arguably misleading them and diminishing their control on their ancestral lands.”
Will federal and state Labor sell this lie to UNESCO by ignoring the wishes of legitimate Traditional Owners?
Queensland’s major mortgagee is Rothschild Bank and in true bankster style is securing its interests by locking up vast areas of untapped vital mineral resources on Cape York, out of the reach of competitors and mining companies.
What better way of protecting its collateral? By forcing governments to declare national parks and world heritage areas in collusion with the IMF and the World Bank. https://cairnsnews.org/2018/06/18/cape-york-possible-coal-seam-gas-field/
