World Heritage delay a blessing in disguise

FEDERAL Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch has welcomed news that the proposed blanket World Heritage listing for large areas of Cape York is in doubt after the Federal Government missed an international deadline.

According to The Australian newspaper, UNESCO has confirmed that a tentative listing for the peninsula should have been submitted by Australia by February 1, but has not been received.

The failure to meet this important deadline means that there is no further opportunity for Australia to submit a nomination for consideration by the World Heritage committee in June-July 2013.

Mr Entsch said it was a “blessing in disguise” for Cape landowners, businesspeople and traditional owners who were already over-burdened with excessive legislation, red and green tape.

“The Labor Government is obsessed with an agenda of totally shutting the Cape down to any development at all, simply to meet the demands of their Green puppet masters,” he said.

“They have no understanding of the fact that people on the Cape have as much, if not more, interest than anybody else in ensuring that development is sustainable and preserves the values of the land, waterways and indigenous heritage for future generations.”

The only extension to the deadline that is permitted by the WH committee is in the case of an ’emergency’ submission, which happens rarely and only when there is an ascertained threat to the site.

Mr Entsch said locals could breathe a sigh of relief as there was “no way in the world” that environmentalists could argue ‘imminent threat’, as even the most progressed mining proposals – for the South of Embley mine near Weipa and the Wongai Project near Cooktown – were still going through environmental impact assessments and years away from being operative.

“I’d also like to know just how much money has been squandered by the government on consultants and meetings and pseudo-consultation, when they don’t even have the capabilities to meet a crucial deadline,” Mr Entsch asked.

“The Federal Labor government has been compliant in this whole thing in their clandestine efforts to facilitate the Bligh government’s agenda,” he added.

“I’ll be making sure that questions are asked at the upcoming Senate Estimates as to the costs to date – this money could have been much more effectively spent on improving road, health or social infrastructure on Cape York.”

The former Bligh state government was responsible for obtaining traditional owner consent but the process was derailed when leaders such as Cape York Land Council chair Richie Ah Mat withdrew, saying they would not negotiate until Wild Rivers legislation was scrapped.

While the new LNP government supports World Heritage listing for “suitable areas” of the Cape, Environment Minister Andrew Powell told The Australian that indigenous consultation was essential and could not be hurried.

“I am in full agreement with Mr Powell and I know that the new Member for Cook, David Kempton, is also fully aware of the concerns relating to blanket World Heritage listing of the Cape,” Mr Entsch said.