Plans to have Cape York listed as a World Heritage site have hit a major snag. The federal government has missed an international deadline to lodge the listing application with UNESCO … and it means the process cannot move forward until after the next election.
The coalition, and some indigenous leaders, have previously spoken out against the World Heritage proposal, fearing it will stifle development on the cape. The Queensland government now says it has halted vital indigenous consultation, saying it now wants to combine the talks with consultations on the government’s bio-region plan for the cape.
“I’d hate to rush a process which included indigenous consent to meet an arbitrary time frame set by the federal government,” said the state’s Environment Minister, Andrew Powel. Queensland Premier Campbell Newman says his government has never supported a blanket listing for the cape, which was what the federal and former state Labor governments wanted.
“We would support listing certain iconic areas that must be protected,” he said. Environment groups are worried any delay in nominating Cape York will allow more mines to be approved on the peninsula, which is currently subject to unprecedented exploration interest.
“At this stage, there is no more chance for Australia to submit a nomination for consideration by the (World Heritage) committee in June-July 2013,” UNESCO’s Alessandro Balsamo said. “The only possible exception would be to submit the nomination on an emergency basis, which is something that happens very rarely and only in cases in which there is a threat that is ascertained on the site.”
