OZschwitz slave pen: Cape leaders fight statist World Heritage listing

Aboriginal leaders have warned the federal government it faces a bitter legal and political battle if it pushes ahead with plans to have Cape York listed as a World Heritage Area against the wishes of the local population.

A meeting of state and federal environment ministers in Hobart endorsed a "tentative" list of four proposed world heritage areas to present to international body UNESCO later this year.

The Cape York proposal was placed at the top of the list in terms of priorities, giving its nomination a greater chance of success.

Balkanu Cape York Development Corporation director Gerhardt Pearson said the cape's indigenous communities and their representative bodies would fight the proposed listing "by all means possible" unless the government was willing to sit down and negotiate with local leaders.

He said the previous world heritage listings, such as Queensland's Wet Tropics area had stifled any prospect of economic development for the local indigenous populations and did not want to see the cape communities suffer the same fate.

"Aboriginal people are not going to sit down and allow any government to affect our native title rights, our common law rights and our aboriginal rights over our country," he told AAP.

"This is about our economic future."

Queensland Climate Change Minister Kate Jones said the cape, which has been largely untouched by development, was of international environmental significant and a successful world heritage listing would help bring tourism and jobs to the region.

She stressed that the process of obtaining a listing was only in its early stages and indigenous stakeholders would need to be "extensively consulted" before the nomination could progress.

"Our commitment is that we must undertake consultation and we will ensure that we do so," she said.

However, Mr Pearson said the pledge was meaningless following the Queensland governments decision to impose "wild river" declarations on three river basins despite overwhelming resistance from locals.

Indigenous leaders, including Mr Pearson and his brother Noel, say the declarations, which ban development within 1km of a river or creek in each of the basins, would stifle any chance of economic development on the cape and force another generation into welfare dependence.

"Consultation doesn't mean anything, until they are prepared to come and sit down and negotiate a clear process to reaching world heritage listing we are going to have a fight," he told AAP.

However, he said indigenous leaders would not take part in any consultation or negotiation until the Queensland Government wound back the wild river declarations.

"Until such time as that is done there is no point in traditional owners sitting down with government and allowing more of our land to be given up for conservation," he said.

LNK

OZschwitz slave pen: Cape leaders fight statist World Heritage listing

OZschwitz slave pen: Cape leaders fight statist World Heritage listing

Anarcho-Capitalist Categorical Imperatives

Via AnCaps: Law & Enforced Unnatural Order