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

I rise tonight to address a matter of great significance for the people of Far North Queensland, the proposed UNESCO World Heritage listing of the Cape York Peninsula region. Queensland state and federal Labor governments have recently progressed the proposal, and I, along with many others, have great reservations about what might occur if they succeed in securing a World Heritage listing. Cape York is undeniably a treasure, rich in biodiversity and cultural heritage. It is a landscape that demands respect and careful stewardship. It is a picturesque, wild country. Many Australians view it as a rite of passage to traverse the very tip of the northern point of the Australian continent.

While the cape certainly warrants protection, 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. Firstly, consider the implication of this proposal on the rights and livelihoods of the traditional owners and the local residents. 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.

The proposal threatens to transform vast areas of the cape into zones primarily reserved for tourism. This might be fine for some areas, but it will undoubtedly restrict essential activities such as agriculture, development and mining, which many locals depend on for their livelihoods. The economic repercussions of such a limitation could be devastating, particularly for a region that thrives on the sustainable use of its natural resources.

We must also remember that this proposal effectively hands over the judgement of these lands and its protection to a committee populated by representatives from countries far removed from us and our reality such as Bulgaria, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Turkiye and Zambia, just to name a few. These nations do not share our direct connection to the land, nor do they fully understand the complexities and challenges unique to Cape York.

We've seen previously with the Great Barrier Reef that the World Heritage Committee and its decision-making is a highly politicised international horse-trading session. I saw this for myself firsthand when I was the Special Envoy for the Great Barrier Reef. World Heritage committee members inevitably come to these assessment processes with preconceived notions about the state and status of World Heritage listings, and the government of the day and their bureaucrats are often at pains to try and illustrate the reality of the situation on the ground or in the water, as it were.

I and many others I've spoken with just can't see the benefit of the listing outweighing the costs and restrictions to landholders and traditional owners groups that will inevitably come. The government has said it will consult widely, as it should. But it worries me that the proposal echoes the misguided conservation efforts of the past such as those initiated under the Wayne Goss Labor government, which sought to impose wilderness protection zones that restricted access to the usage of vast areas of Cape York. It was this act of overreach that helped compel me to enter politics back in 1995. This push for a World Heritage listing is effectively a revival of the longstanding agenda by Labor to lock up our lands under the guise of conservation.

I'm not convinced that the government's efforts to engage and consult with the local communities are sufficient. Many have expressed concerns to me directly. The government hasn't even bothered to extend their consultations to the local Cook Shire Council, the Weipa Town Authority and other local authorities. In my view, the engagement to date is sorely lacking in that the forthright disclosure and explanation of the potential ramifications of World Heritage listing is merely a footnote in these discussions. The current consultation process is being criticised by prominent traditional owners for being too selective and insufficient in scope, for lacking transparency, and for its failure to include all stakeholders. This has already lead to significant apprehension about the World Heritage listing process and the government's mandate to pursue this in the first place.

In response to those concerns, I will be initiating a petition in the coming days. This petition will call for action from every member of our community who believes in Cape York's right to self-determination, local governance and the rights of our Indigenous people and their land. I believe the people of Cape York do not need international entities dictating how they should manage their local environmental and cultural heritage. The stewardship of Cape York should be characterised by inclusivity and respect for all voices, not just those the government or UNESCO have received a warm reception from. The people of this region are diverse and so are their views and aspirations. The government needs to consider these facts very carefully. We must work towards a commitment to sustainable development that will benefit all residents. Our goal must be to protect our environment while ensuring that the community thrives economically and culturally.

To those who are in favour of the proposal, particularly certain traditional owner groups, please seriously consider the ramifications to your land and to your neighbours and what they are able to do with their land. The implications are very serious, and the impacts on all residents will no doubt be quite profound. It would be a tragic outcome for those in Cape York if the government pursued this listing under false pretence and without full, unequivocal and informed consent and support from all communities.

Indigenous people throughout Cape York have fought long and hard for their land rights and for the ability to be able to pursue economic activity on their land. There are entire communities in Cape York that are built upon activities that UNESCO will certainly disapprove of. I think it's rather ironic that, after all of these years in seeking to get native title rights—and we always talk about the cultural appropriateness of them managing their own country and the environmental benefits of traditional owners owning their own, or managing their own, country—we now have a situation where we're saying, 'Righto, now that you've got that country, we want to take that and hand the decision-making in relation to the management, both culturally and environmentally, over to a group of faceless individuals, an international committee.' It seriously doesn't make sense. Many of the traditional owners that I talk to are very, very concerned about it.

It's also a concern for the neighbours of these areas. Some of the traditional owners say, 'We want to lock this up in environmental management,' and that's not an issue. They should be the ones best equipped to manage their country, and they're able to do that, but there are also concerns about the ramifications for all of those neighbours. Not everybody wants to be photo fodder for tourists, standing naked on one leg in a water lily pond with a spear for tourists to take a photograph when they come by. Others have other aspirations for themselves and their families, and they should have the right to pursue those. To lock them into a particular economic situation is, I think, totally appalling.

I can't stress the significance of this issue enough. I'm strongly encouraging any and all residents of Cape York with the slightest reservations to get involved in the process. As I said earlier, I'll be initiating a petition shortly. Please join me in opposing this misguided proposal for World Heritage listing. We should let Cape York people and Cape York landholders determine for themselves what is best for their community and their land. We simply cannot leave this important decision to people thousands of miles away who have no idea whatsoever where Cape York even is, let alone what the diversity and the cultural significance of that land is. I think we should leave it to Cape York people to do their own management of their own country.