Aborigines fighting waterways law

Aboriginal leaders in Queensland's remote Cape York Peninsula have launched legal action against the state Government over legislation that severely limits any development near waterways designated "wild rivers".

Four river systems have already been quarantined under the legislation, which traditional landowners say deprives them of the opportunity to achieve economic independence. Another nine on the Cape - an area of outstanding natural beauty that is home to half of Australia's birds and one-third of its mammals, many of them rare or endangered - are expected to follow.

A writ lodged in the High Court by the Cape York Land Council accuses the Government and the Natural Resources Minister, Stephen Robertson, of breaching the Racial Discrimination Act and the Native Title Act.

Under the latter, native title-holders have the right to "possession, occupation, use and enjoyment" of their land.

Aboriginal leaders claim the wild rivers legislation is the result of a pre-election deal in 2004 between the Labor Government and the Wilderness Society to "lock up" the peninsula's waterways in exchange for political support. The society wants the entire Cape to be World Heritage-listed.

While landowners acknowledge the pristine beauty of the area, which comprises wetlands, tropical rainforest, savannah grasslands and sand dunes, they believe they are entitled to pursue the same economic activities which have brought wealth to white people, including logging, mining and grazing cattle. The wild rivers legislation effectively limits them to eco-tourism.

Gerhardt Pearson, executive director of the Balkanu Cape York Development Corporation, told ABC radio that the legal challenge was "as significant ... if not more significant" than the Wik case of 1996, which culminated in a judgment that native title rights could co-exist on pastoral leases.

Three waterways - the Archer, Stewart and Lockhart, along with their catchment areas - were declared wild rivers last year. Last week, the Government announced a fourth: the massive Wenlock River system. That decision is expected to scupper a bauxite mine which would have created hundreds of jobs and royalties of up to A$2 million ($2.5 million) a year for the local community.

Robertson accused Pearson of "scaremongering", and said the Government was "getting on with the job of getting sustainable economic development happening on the Cape".