Mr WETTENHALL (17 Oct 2007) (12.56 pm): I thank other honourable members adjacent to me for expressing their confidence and their ongoing support. In the early 1990s when I first arrived in Cairns one of the first public events that I went to was a slide show on the Cape York Peninsula presented at the Cairns and Far North Environment Centre by a fantastic local photographer, Kerry Trapnell. Kerry has gone on over the ensuing years to publish widely and to be engaged by many prestigious organisations including the National Geographic Society, the World Wildlife Fund and others. He has exhibited widely and he has published his own book.

The most outstanding thing about those photographs was that they were not just photographs about landscapes, although of course Cape York Peninsula is unique in Australia in the diversity and magnificence of its landscapes. They were wonderful photographs because they also depicted people in those landscapes. I am reminded of that exhibition and that display because I think this legislation is very much about two things: it is about people and places. The debate that has gone on over a couple of decades now, that has waxed and waned and has been characterised by shifting alliances, has been very much polarised on that issue of people and places.

The provisions in this bill seek to reconcile and have the support of widely differing individuals and groups in order to provide an agreed framework for the development of Cape York Peninsula into the future. I like to think that Kerry Trapnell's photographs are something of a template for that future which is reflected in the provisions of these bills.

In 1996 through the Cairns and Far North Environment Centre, which I had something to do with earlier in the 1990s, and through the efforts of a number of people including Indigenous people on Cape York Peninsula and others around the state, a document was signed called the Cape York Heads of Agreement. I recognise and acknowledge the significance of the achievement of that agreement. I think it is fair to say that all of us who had an interest, a vision and a hope for Cape York Peninsula saw that as a starting point to move forward. Pastoralists, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living on Cape York Peninsula and people who were concerned about the environmental sustainability and the conservation of the peninsula's unique biodiversity had each found a way to move forward.

For a variety of reasons, which it is not necessary or appropriate to go into in speaking to this bill, the fortunes and the prospects of realising the vision as set out in the Cape York Heads of Agreement have waxed and waned. In my opinion, one of the best aspects of this bill is that, in a sense, we have come around again to the point where the Cape York Heads of Agreement was in 1996. We are all able to sit down together and express optimism and hope about all of the interests that are at stake in Cape York Peninsula. But, most particularly, those people who live there are able to be recognised and to be fostered through the new arrangements in this bill.

Mr WETTENHALL (Barron River-ALP) (2.34 pm): Prior to lunch I was speaking about some of the general aspects of the bill. I now turn to two specific aspects of the bill that I wish to speak about. They are the committee process and the consultation activities that are related to the bill.

The background to the legislation is that the bill puts into practice an agreement for the resolution of outstanding land tenure and management issues on Cape York Peninsula. The bill recognises Cape York Peninsula's significant natural and cultural values and provides for cooperative and ideologically sustainable management of the region.

The bill provides for the establishment of two committees that will provide advice to the Minister for Natural Resources and Water and it is those that I will focus on. Those committees are to be known as the Cape York Peninsula Regional Advisory Committee and the Cape York Peninsula Region Scientific and Cultural Advisory Committee. A third committee, the Regional Protected Area Management Committee, will provide advice to the minister for environment and multiculturalism.

The Cape York Peninsula Regional Advisory Committee will be responsible for advising the Minister for Natural Resources and Water on the declaration of Indigenous community use areas. The committee will also provide advice to the minister for environment and multiculturalism on the declaration of areas of international conservation significance. It will also be responsible for advising on any other issues the ministers consider appropriate with regard to the objects of the act.

At least half the members of the regional advisory committee must be representatives of the Indigenous people of the Cape York Peninsula region. The remaining membership will comprise conservation, pastoral, mining and tourism interests and local government. To ensure that the work of implementing the bill begins as soon as possible, the government intends to ask key groups to provide nominees for an interim regional advisory committee. This interim committee is to be established within four weeks of the bill becoming law. At the same time, the due process will get underway to formalise the long-term membership of the committee. It is anticipated that the Cape York Peninsula Regional Advisory Committee will meet four times in the first year, with two meetings every year thereafter.

I turn now to the Cape York Peninsula Region Scientific and Cultural Advisory Committee. This committee will advise the Minister for Natural Resources and Water about matters relating to natural and cultural values of land that is proposed as an Indigenous community use area. The scientific and cultural advisory committee will need to undertake specific assessments and consultancies that will review current knowledge and provide contemporary information about natural and cultural values. It will use that knowledge as a basis for its recommendations.

The scientific and cultural advisory committee will comprise six members with representation in agricultural science, covering grazing and cropping; ecology with respect to World Heritage values; zoology for animal husbandry; cultural values; anthropology; and freshwater ecology and aquaculture sciences. It is proposed that once this bill becomes law the process will begin to establish an interim and long-term Cape York Peninsula Region Scientific and Cultural Advisory Committee.

Meanwhile, the Cape York tenures resolution implementation group will continue to fill its role in terms of the Cape York heads of agreement which relates to the allocation of land. This group will take on the role of advising the Minister for Natural Resources and Water and the minister for environment and multiculturalism with respect to the management of values relative to Cape York Peninsula regional land. I take this opportunity to acknowledge the many hundreds of people over the years-but particularly in the period preceding the signing of the heads of agreement in 1996 that I referred to before the lunch adjournment and since-who have contributed their skill, expertise, time, energy, passion and commitment to the future of Cape York Peninsula not only to identifying and preserving the outstanding natural values of the region but also to identifying opportunities for the economic development of all people who live on Cape York Peninsula. They come from all walks of life. By and large, they have had a common goal-that is, to achieve a better future for the people who live on Cape York Peninsula and to preserve the outstanding World Heritage values of the region for generations to come. Cape York Peninsula truly does contain some of the most outstanding natural and cultural values in the world. There are certainly many places worthy of that assessment.

As I say, there have been countless numbers of people who have participated in a variety of forums over the years. Scientists have deployed their skills in gathering the data that has enabled and informed the subsequent debates, and that will in many respects underpin the developments that are now made possible by the provisions of this bill. To all of them we owe our gratitude and our thanks. The consultation activities that have taken place in the development of this bill have been widespread and exhaustive, and I want to address those aspects now. The bill arose as a result of ongoing consultation involved with land tenure resolution and protection of significant conservation values of Cape York and constraints to economic development in Indigenous communities. That consultation and negotiation has resulted in an agreement in how to resolve outstanding land tenure and management issues on the beautiful Cape York Peninsula.

A driving force in the development of this bill was the concern expressed by Indigenous communities in the Cape York Peninsula region that they face legislative limits on their ability to pursue social, cultural and economic development aspirations. Months of ongoing consultation and negotiation occurred before this bill was brought to parliament and indeed has continued to this day. That consultation and negotiation is proof of this government's commitment to work with the communities affected, and that holds true whether they are physical communities or communities of interest such as conservation interests and the pastoral and mining industries.

Looking to the future, I can assure members that the Queensland government is committed to working with communities to give them the information and support that they need to realise the multiple goals of this bill-that is, to identify the significant natural and cultural values of Cape York Peninsula, and, as I said, a lot of work has already been done in that regard; to provide for cooperative management, protection and ecologically sustainable use of land in the region; to recognise the economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations of Indigenous communities in relation to land use in the region; and to recognise the contribution of the pastoral industry in the region to its economy and land management.

Many organisations have contributed to the formation of the bill, including the Cape York Land Council, the Wilderness Society, the Australian Conservation Foundation, AgForce and the Queensland Resources Council. A great many individuals and organisations are vitally interested in the future of the cape. Recognising this, the bill states that consultation must be undertaken before part of the Cape York Peninsula region is declared as an area of international conservation significance or an Indigenous community use area.

The Minister for Natural Resources and Water and the minister for the environment must consult with the regional advisory committee and the scientific and cultural advisory committee about proposed declarations. This government will support those communities to ensure that the most reliable and up-todate scientific and cultural information is used in formulating the recommendations. Additionally, before declaring an area of international conservation significance, the minister for the environment must call for public submissions from persons who may have an interest in the area. The bill states that the Minister for Natural Resources and Water is not limited in the extent he may consult ‘with any other person or entity' the minister considers appropriate before declaring an Indigenous community use area.

The communication that is envisaged through the provisions of the bill will be guided by two principles: first, flexibility in delivery to ensure that the information and support that is provided fits the needs of the various groups affected; and, secondly, to collaborate with other agencies involved to ensure that information is delivered consistently. Indeed, sometimes those other agencies are best placed to actually deliver the information and support. To repeat the former Premier's words in announcing this bill, through a spirit of endeavour and cooperation we have put in place a blueprint for a new future in Cape York Peninsula.

I have had the great good fortune to visit many of the communities on the Cape York Peninsula before I was elected to the parliament and the work in which I was involved meant that I had the great fortune to meet very many people. Also as part of that experience I witnessed firsthand the ravages of alcohol and substance abuse and the resultant violence and vandalism in some of the communities. It is true to say that, through the provisions of this bill, through the consultation that has occurred and through the various programs that have been put in place by this government that seek to attack the causes of disadvantage and dysfunction for people who live on Cape York Peninsula, all of us can share in a sense of optimism and confidence about the future.

We may not have necessarily been in a position to share that optimism and confidence some years ago. But I believe that, although there has been and continues to be disagreements about the way forward and although the road that is chartered by this bill for a better future in Cape York Peninsula will sometimes throw up some potholes and some corrugations that will make that road more difficult to traverse, all of us in the government-and I would like to think all of us in this parliament-are committed and share that faith that we can and we will achieve a better future for all of the people on Cape York Peninsula. We believe that we will do that through creating a platform for the development of economic opportunity and for proper jobs for all of the people on Cape York Peninsula to be able to share in the prosperity that most of us in this state and this nation enjoy.

That is a goal that is very worthwhile. It is very achievable. This is landmark legislation. It builds on a lot of important and significant work that has been achieved by very many people who have that goal and who have great goodwill for all of the people who live on Cape York Peninsula. Although there will be arguments and disagreements about the best way forward, I truly believe from the bottom of my heart that we all share that goal and that the people of Cape York Peninsula will enjoy a prosperous future in a country of outstanding natural and cultural values and that people will not only want to live there and not only have a future living there but want to visit there as well, and they will be able to do so. I commend the bill to the House.