Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 23 November, just two days before Queenslanders went to the polls, the ABC broadcast a story on its 7 pm national news which was supplied to them by the Wilderness Society. They did this without checking the facts. The story alleged that one of Far North Queensland's most respected families, the Jonssons, who are fifth-generation farmers, illegally logged 60 hectares of forest on their Wombinoo Station, possibly killing endangered species including koalas, and were subject to a federal government investigation for illegal clearing. Since that ABC broadcast, the Jonssons have been the victims of an arson attack, with one of their $180,000 bulldozers set on fire and burnt out. They had graffiti sprayed on their gate labelling them as koala killers, they have received numerous threats and hate mail, and their business has certainly suffered.

The facts are that the Jonssons were given state and federal government approvals for permits to clear their land in 2015. I have received confirmation from the federal minister, Josh Frydenberg, that the allegations of illegal land clearing made against the Jonssons by the Wilderness Society, and reported by the ABC on 23 November, were looked at by his department and dismissed as unfounded. He said: 'The Jonsson family are complying with their obligations under federal environment law and a proposal for future clearing is currently being assessed by the department.'

The clearing in question occurred three years ago and the family has subsequently planted some 2,000 avocado trees which are now well advanced. About three months ago, the Jonssons made a decision to burn the remnant windrows, which is a normal farming practice. We can only assume that the smoke attracted the attention of the Wilderness Society and that a campaigner was sent to illegally enter the property and take drone footage of the area. The Wilderness Society then sat on that footage for three months, before releasing it to the ABC activist who posed as a journalist, Mr George Roberts. George Roberts is a serious piece of work. He last came to prominence in 2014 when he fabricated a story about unauthorised boat arrivals having their hands tortured and burnt by members of the ADF. He was exposed at the time as an absolute fraud and the story was a total fabrication. Unfortunately, his ABC subeditors and editors in Brisbane made no effort to check the veracity of the story and it was released nationally.

The Wilderness Society constantly uses iconic symbols like koalas and the Great Barrier Reef to justify their activism and stop development, even though there is absolutely no basis of fact in their statements. There are no koalas on Wombinoo Station, nor is there any evidence of koalas ever existing on Wombinoo Station. This has been confirmed following a total of four independent and federal environmental inspections, all of which were at a cost of something like $50,000 or $60,000 to the landholders. The Jonsson family employ 70-odd people at their farm market store in Cairns and an extra 30 people when seasonal work is available for the picking and packing of their produce. They have won numerous awards for farming and currently have four environmental production trials taking place on their property in conjunction with the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. Warren Jonsson, the innovative owner of Wombinoo, is also on the Tablelands Regional Council's irrigation and economic development committee to boost business, jobs and resources in the region.

The Jonsson family have done everything right in regard to Wombinoo Station, and yet they've suffered financial loss and mental anguish as a result of this criminal activity by the Wilderness Society and the appalling journalism by ABC activist George Roberts. I have written to the chairman and managing director of the ABC lodging a formal complaint against Roberts and the editors. The Jonsson family have now instigated legal proceedings against the Wilderness Society and the ABC. I hope they are successful. The ABC editorial staff, George Roberts and the Wilderness Society need to be held accountable for their actions. I'd like to see them lose their bloody jobs; I'd like to see them lose their incomes and their homes, because the financial and emotional damage that was inflicted on the Jonsson family was so unnecessary.

I urge all Cairns residents to show their support for the Jonsson family by shopping at their store. This would mean a lot to the family and assist in helping them to recover from this dreadful experience. (Time expired)