Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am indebted to Senator Macdonald for raising this issue. It is a very serious issue, World Heritage listing for Cape York. It is where most of the Indigenous people in Queensland live. About 16,000 Indigenous people live in Cape York. They are led by a very able Indigenous leader, Noel Pearson, who has come to the conclusion that welfare has destroyed his people. He is trying to lead them out of it.

In 1987, the then Premier, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, under a deed of grant in trust, gave millions and millions of acres to the Indigenous people. He gave it to them under a deed of grant in trust to allow them to go to their local council and say, 'I want 20 acres to grow bananas,' or 'I want 10 acres to grow passionfruit' or whatever. That was deeded to them. Everyone was pretty happy with that until the Greens decided that they wanted Wild Rivers. Wild Rivers was put in as a forerunner to World Heritage listing. I could see this coming. It stood out so vividly that I asked Mr Warren Truss to get an assurance or an ironclad guarantee from the then environment minister, Mr Garrett, that World Heritage listing would not go ahead without the support of the Indigenous people. And he did; he said he would never do it without the support of the Indigenous people.

But now we are getting World Heritage by what I call creeping acquisition. Mr Burke said the other day: 'We'll just go and get some selective little places. Instead of listing the whole of Cape York, we will get little pieces—a beach here, a mountain there. And we will give $3 million.' Then the state government said, 'We'll give $3 million, too,' So that is $6 million for them to go out and buy the favours of Aboriginal people and to get them to support World Heritage listing. Fortunately, Noel Pearson saw this coming. He has rallied against it and told the people not to sell their heritage out. He told them that their land is worth more than that.

As Senator McLucas would be aware, at the last election it was a wipe-out for the Labor Party in the communities. Aboriginals who have traditionally voted Labor—who have done so for as long as I can remember—at the last election turned around. They turned around on Stradbroke Island, where the Greens demanded the closure of the mineral sands. There were 60 Indigenous jobs there, and they were wiped out. I walked onto the island and the Aboriginal people came to me and said: 'We have never voted for the National Party or the Liberal Party in our lives. We voted for them this time because the Labor Party is trying to destroy our livelihoods. What do we do? Do we sell out or stay here and catch planes up to Rockhampton?'

Then the Greens demanded World Heritage listing for the Lake Eyre Basin. To get that, they are going to promote Wild Rivers legislation for that. They are going to hold the line under Wild Rivers while they work to get World Heritage. I warn the graziers to not ever fall for it. You might think it attractive because it will stop mining, but once that World Heritage area is declared you will not be able to put a shovel or a post in the ground. You will be frozen in time on your properties.

The Greens—and Senator Macdonald alluded to this—want the Aboriginal people to be frozen in time. They talk about some sort of far out tourism that is never going to eventuate. Fortunately, we are seeing Aboriginal leaders in Western Australia and Aboriginal leaders in Queensland coming through the ranks, having the guts to lead their people and disassociate themselves from the green groups. I congratulate them both. These two Aboriginal leaders are great men and they deserve every bit of support. (Time expired)