Category: National Parks

110 YEARS OF QUEENSLAND NATIONAL PARKS SOLD OUT BY GODFREY AND JONES

12/11/2018

Newman Gov turns Nature Conservation Act on its head.

The only way to protect Hinchinbrook Island and ALL national parks is for the Palaszczuk Government to REVERSE the Newman amendments to the Nature Conservation Act

That is EXACTLY WHAT THEY PROMISED when they were in opposition – AND DIDN’T DO.

110 years of Queensland national parks sold out by Godfrey and Jones.

It is clear from parliamentary records that Labor MPs in opposition were well aware of the implications of each Newman amendment. HERE ARE THE WORDS OF BILL BYRNE MP (Labor, in opposition):

“LABOR WOULD REPEAL THESE CHANGES”
(Bill Byrne MP to ASH November 2013)

HERE IS THE MOST RECENT (2017) PRE-ELECTION PROMISE MADE BY THE LABOR PARTY:

5.40 Labor will ensure that National Parks and the protected area estate is
managed in accordance with the Cardinal Principle.

5.41 Labor supports the use of National Parks for appropriate and ecologically
sensitive activities. To avoid adverse impacts, Labor will ensure that
intensive development required to support the appropriate and
ecologically sensitive use of National Parks is located outside of the
boundary of protected areas.

5.42 Labor will ensure that development and other types of activities within
National Parks and the protected area estate are managed in accordance
with the Cardinal Principle.

5.43 Labor will continue to ensure the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service
is adequately resourced to enable National Parks and the protected area
estate to be properly managed.

5.44 Labor will ensure that comprehensive scientific management plans are
established for all National Parks and the protected area estate (including
Marine Parks).

AND THEY DIDN’T HONOUR IT

There is NOTHING we can do to protect Hinchinbrook Island, unless the Palaszczuk government honours this pre-election commitment.

The incoming Labor Government 2014 (Environment Minister Miles) thought they'd fool the conservation movement by re-amending only the Object Clause of the Nature Conservation Act, leaving in the Act the other Newman amendments that allow virtually any activity in a national park.

This month we’ve heard the ambitious and innovating Kate Jones crowing on ABC TV - "the Nature Conservation Act allows it!" – showing her determination to dishonour the Labor Party promises, the Labor Party itself, and the Cardinal Principle of national park management.

Related topics

See ASH submission 24 Mar 2013 re Review of the Protected Plants Legislative Framework under the Nature Conservation Act 1992

How Nature Conservation Act changes affect National Parks Cassowary Coast Alliance blog 9/9/2013

0 Comments

INSIGHTS INTO THE REFINEMENT OF QUEENSLAND’S NATIONAL PARK PROTECTION

5/11/2018

0 Comments

By Margaret Moorhouse
Syd Curtis (1928-2016) was a committed proponent of the Cardinal Principle of national park management. His principled thinking was important in establishing a representative basis for selection of new national parks. He had initiated this approach after moving from forestry work to the Forestry Department’s national park section, in 1963.

The Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service (QNPWS) was not founded until 1975. Syd was QNPWS Director of Management and Operations and later (1992) Assistant Director (Policy and Legislation), retiring in 1988.

'Newspaws' March 1988 with Margaret Thorsborne's handwritten remarks.

The following is an excerpt from a 1989 letter from newly-retired Syd, published in an underground ex-employee QNPWS newspaper “Feral Cat”. The newsletter’s feline logo was a take on the QNPWS logo:

"When I joined the Department of Forestry in 1946 on the advice of Dr. (later Professor) D.A. Herbert head of the University's Botany Department who predicted that a time would come when the Department would use graduate staff on National Park administration, a public service career was something in which one could take pride, and the National Park concept was one of mankind's finest ideals. The latter is still true. And if Queensland changes its government to one that understands and respects the Westminster system of democracy, the public service too may rise above its present problems, and again serve the wider community and not merely the political ends of the favoured few. Hang in there, you dedicated National Parks staff, you've got something tremendously important to fight for. And you seem to have a strong ally in one Herbert F. Cat"!

0 Comments

110 YEARS OF QUEENSLAND NATIONAL PARKS SOLD OUT BY GODFREY AND JONES

INSIGHTS INTO THE REFINEMENT OF QUEENSLAND’S NATIONAL PARK PROTECTION

Archives

Categories