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| Clearing on Olive Vale Station, Cape York: Wilderness Society |
The
fate of vast tracts of Queensland bushland hangs in the balance as a
group of Cairns-based indigenous leaders led by Noel Pearson
pressures the state MP for Cook, Billy Gordon, to vote against the
Palaszczuk Labor Government's new tree-clearing laws.
Gordon
was the indigenous Labor candidate elected for the Cape York seat in
north Queensland in the January 2015 election but was forced to
resign from the party soon after when details of his criminal history
were revealed. He now threatens to betray the people of Cook who
thought they were voting for a Labor MP by supporting moves to
scuttle the tree-clearing laws by the Liberal National Party, the
state farmers' peak body AgForce, and Pearson and his acolytes in
Cairns. The minority Palaszczuk Government needs Gordon's vote to
pass the legislation.
The
legislation expected to be voted on soon reverses the gutting by the
Campbell Newman LNP Government in 2012 of the Beattie Labor
Government's landmark 2004 law to control land-clearing. Since
Newman's move, more than 1 million hectares of bushland have been
cleared, including almost 300,000 hectares in the year to June 2015 –
the equivalent of 360,000 football fields. A third of the clearing
took place in catchments adjoining the Great Barrier Reef.
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| Cook MP Billy Gordon: Cairns Post |
The
quantity of greenhouse emissions resulting from the relaxed
tree-clearing laws rose from 16 million tonnes in 2010 to 52 million
tonnes in 2014, undoing much of the reduction in emissions achieved
by the federal Government's direct action policy. On just one station
on Cape York, Olive Vale, a permit was issued to bulldoze 33,000
hectares of woodland that is habitat for threatened species such as
Buff-breasted Buttonquail and Red Goshawk. The consequences overall
of the widespread clearing for biodiversity are grave; it is likely,
for instance, that populations of many woodland birds will decline
precipitously, as they have in south-eastern Australia.
The
new law reverses Newman's act of environmental vandalism, which
allowed landholders to make their own assessments about whether or
not vegetation on their land could be cleared. Newman allowed
unlimited clearing for “high value” agriculture, which can mean
just about anything.
Gordon's
fellow Cairns-based MP, Rob Pyne, also sits as an Independent after
resigning from the ALP post-election. Pyne voted with the LNP and the
two MPs from Katter's Australian Party last March to defer the
government's new law so it could be considered by a parliamentary
committee. The move is likely to have prompted “panic” clearing
by farmers and has allowed its opponents to launch a concerted
campaign against the legislation. The parliamentary committee was
unable to agree on a path forward, but Pyne has indicated he will
vote for the legislation when it returns to parliament soon.
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| Noel Pearson: Sydney Morning Herald |
Leading
the LNP cheer squad has been Pearson and his mates, who control
various Cairns-based organisations including the Cape York Institute
and the Balkanu Cape York Development Corporation. Prominent among
them are Noel's brother Gerhardt Pearson and Cape York Land Council
chairman Richie Ahmat. They say the Vegetation Management (Reinstatement) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016 will prevent the
development of indigenous agricultural and other development
projects. The Government responds that such projects will be able to
proceed with environmental safeguards in place.
Noel
Pearson also led the charge against the Beattie Government's wild
rivers legislation, which protected the catchments of environmentally
significant watercourses on Cape York and elsewhere. That law was
similarly overturned by Campbell Newman's LNP Government. Pearson
claimed at the time he had the unanimous support of north Queensland
indigenous leaders, but in fact his stand was opposed by many
including Carpentaria Land Council head Murrandoo Yanner, North
Queensland Land Council chairman Terry O'Shane, and Mapoon Council
chairman Peter Guavara. The LNP and Pearson's mob increasingly sing
from the same songsheet.
It
wasn't always thus. The founders of the Cape York Land Council in the
1970s were of a different ilk. Highly regarded indigenous leaders
such as Mick Miller, the CYLC founding chairman, and boxing champion
Clarry Grogan, were at one with the environmental movement in
opposing large-scale, destructive development on Cape York and in
championing the cause of preserving the outstanding wilderness values
of the region. These leaders agreed that at the same time, provisions
could be in place to allow development to improve the lot of
indigenous communities, and for the active inclusion of communities
in environmental management and protection. Kakadu in the Northern
Territory is a fine example of how conservation can work in the
interests of promoting the economic and social interests of
indigenous communities.
In
1984, Mick Miller wrote and narrated a documentary film, Couldn't
be Fairer, about his people. The film noted the view at the time
of the Queensland Graziers Association that indigenous people should
be divided into “true Aborigines” and “hybrids”. The peak
farming group these days is AgForce, which has joined forces with the
LNP and Pearson in promoting a disinformation campaign to undermine
attempts to control land-clearing, although state government figures
show that the agricultural sector did not suffer during the years
that clearing controls were in place. Many environmentally aware
farmers oppose the stand by AgForce.
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| Mick Miller |
That
earlier spirit of co-operation between indigenous and environmental
groups culminated in the Cape York Heads of Agreement in 1996. The
agreement laid the groundwork for co-operation between
conservationists and indigenous communities, but how things have
changed. Pearson now regards the environmental movement as the main
enemy and the big developers as friends and saviours. It is not lost
on observers that some Cairns-based indigenous groups have over the
past couple of decades been the beneficiaries of lucrative contracts
with mining companies and other developers.
Noel
Pearson is an articulate exponent of what he regards as the best
interests of his people, but he is also a foul-mouthed. homophobic bully. When I
was a journalist with The Sydney Morning Herald, I dared to write about connections between some north Queensland indigenous
organisations and big mining companies. I was subjected to a
30-minute raging rant on the phone from Pearson, during which he
called me a f...ing c..t or a f...ing poofter c..t no fewer than 15 times. As has been written elsewhere, there is a deeply disturbing side to this man
which the public has not largely been privy to.
Small
wonder that Billy Gordon is feeling the heat. When Gordon ventured
the view earlier this year that he might support the new
tree-clearing law, he was immediately vilified. He was described as a
“blackfella who went walkabout” on his constituents. Pearson
warned Gordon that passage of the legislation would mean the “death
of a thousand cuts” for indigenous communities; a ludicrous
proposition. However, Gordon left little doubt in an interview with The Australian last week that he intends to oppose
the bill, effectively sealing its fate.
It
also would be helpful to contact Rob Pyne along the same lines.
Rob.Pyne@parliament.qld.gov.au
and Cairns@parliament.qld.gov.au
Twitter @RobJPyne. Phone:
(07) 4229 0110
