Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. Will the minister guarantee that Cape York will not be put on the tentative World Heritage listing without the consent of the Indigenous people of Cape York?

Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. Given the record of those opposite on questions of providing Indigenous people with the opportunities to fulfil their aspirations, I am happy to take a question from them. If the honourable member had been paying any attention at all to the public statements by this government in respect of the World Heritage nomination, he should be well aware that the government has always made it perfectly clear that any negotiations going forward in terms of tentative listing are dependent upon the full consent and participation of Indigenous people in Cape York, and that is as it should be.