Pearson slams Bligh on river `deal'
04.04.2009
ABORIGINAL leader Noel Pearson yesterday accused Queensland Premier Anna Bligh of ``urinating on the rights'' of Aboriginal people and treating them ``much worse than even (Joh) Bjelke-Petersen would have done''.
Mr Pearson said the Queensland Government's announcement that three more rivers in Cape York had been declared ``wild rivers'' demonstrated that several government departments were merely extensions of ``green movements''.
He said it was clear that the announcement was held back until after last week's election ``for fear Aboriginal people would be up in arms about it''.
``Today, as Prime Minister Rudd is signing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Queensland Premier is urinating on that document even before the ink is dry,'' said Mr Pearson, who compared Labor unfavourably to the conservative government of Bjelke-Petersen.
``The Queensland Government under Premier Bligh obviously made a commitment to the Wilderness Society to keep quiet about all this so they could drop the bomb after they got elected on green preferences.
``This whole process is a sham. There has been no consent gained from traditional owners in respect of these rivers. Declaring them wild rivers is a fraud anyway, and saying they need protection is stupid.''
Ms Bligh said she accepted that Mr Pearson disagreed with the wild river concept, but insisted there had been more than adequate consultation.
``This was an election commitment in 2004, 2006 and 2009. I don't think personal insults are going to contribute to a mature debate on this. Noel's allegations are demonstrably inaccurate.''
Mr Pearson said the rivers were pristine because Aboriginal people had kept them that way for the past 100 years.
``This legislation means there is no way future generations can establish enterprises such as aquaculture or fishing and tourism lodges,'' he said. ``It ... runs counter to the welfare reform we are trying to introduce in Cape York communities where locals will be encouraged to become part of the real economy.''
Ms Bligh yesterday announced the gazetting of the Archer, Lockhart and Stewart rivers as wild rivers, and said the Ducie, Watson, Olive, Pascoe and Jacky Jacky rivers would follow this year. Under the Wild Rivers Act, no construction is allowed within one kilometre of a declared wild river or any of its tributaries or catchments.
Mr Pearson said those restrictions dashed any chance indigenous people had of lifting themselves out of poverty.
``This is not about protecting the environment. These rivers are already protected under existing legislation,'' Mr Pearson said.
``This was a sleazy deal done to secure green preferences at the election, and today is payday for the Greens. Green bureaucrats are in cahoots with green organisations -- especially in the Lands Department and the Department of Natural Resources.
``In her haste to appease the Greens, Anna Bligh is just trampling on the rights of Aboriginal people and trampling on any chance they have of getting ahead in life.''
