Labor must honour vow on Stradbroke Island mining law, Indigenous group says
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Version 0 of 1. The clock is ticking for the Palaszczuk government to make good on a commitment to repeal laws extending sand mining on North Stradbroke Island, native title holders say. The Quandamooka people were granted native title over large sections of North Stradbroke Island and nearby areas by the federal court in July 2011. But tensions developed when Campbell Newman then became premier and in late 2013 amended the law potentially to extend mining company Sibelco’s lease for its main Enterprise mine until 2035. An application can be made only in 2019, when under current law the lease is due to expire. Indigenous representatives launched a high court challenge to the state laws which they claimed could destabilise the national native title system. Now they’ve been granted a stay of proceedings until the end of June so they can seek repeal of the laws through Queensland’s tightly balanced parliament. Cameron Costello, the chief executive of the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation, said Indigenous representatives had held promising talks with the Labor government. “They’re basically honouring their pre-election commitment to put it back to the original time frame,” he said. “If it gets passed we will be able to withdraw our high court proceedings.” But there was considerable urgency to get the laws through before the stay of proceedings elapsed, he said. The opposition leader, Lawrence Springborg, has said ending the project would cost 500 jobs and claimed the proposed repeal was a “job destruction frenzy”. “This project ... makes an enormous difference to the people who live on that island and many other people that derive their incomes from the significance of that mine as well,” Springborg said. But Costello said his people had been “very patient” and that winding down sand mining in 2019 would afford opportunities for new industries such as eco-tourism. “Anyone who’s been involved in the mining industry knows it’s a finite time frame,” he said. The Quandamooka people have also lodged a second native title claim, relating to unallocated state land on Moreton Island. |