Battle for Hinchinbrook heats up

Battle for Hinchinbrook heats up

By Bill Mason

BRISBANE — Constructing a major resort on the Hinchinbrook Channel on the north Queensland coast is "like building a hotel on the top of Uluru", prominent marine biologist Professor Frank Talbot told a protest meeting of some 150 people at the City Hall here on August 25.

Dr Carmen Lawrence, Labor opposition spokesperson on the environment, challenged Coalition federal environment minister Robert Hill to "table the full advice from his department to the Senate", on giving the go-ahead to Hinchinbrook.

Democrat leader Senator Cheryl Kernot told the audience, "We have to show the Howard government that if they don't take their obligations to protect the World Heritage seriously, then we do".

The meeting, organised by the Wilderness Society, the Queensland Conservation Council and other environment organisations, heard about preparations to mount a High Court challenge to the plan.

A message from Midnight Oil singer Peter Garrett warned that it is "not enough to rely on a legal challenge: the movement needs to mobilise".

From GLW issue 246