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Derek Tipper, of The Wilderness Society, is up to his old tricks again by Jack Andrew Wilkie-Jans 28 February 2014
D
erek Tipper, of The Wilderness Society, is up to his old tricks again with his article in yesterday’s First Nations Telegraph titled Traditional owners call on Premier for protection of Wenlock River from development. Divide and conquer in the name, not of the local people of Cape York, but in the name of the massive green vote in the big cities (where the majority of The Wilderness Society and Greens support and fundraising stems from). I am a Traditional Owner of Mapoon (Teppathiggi and Tjungundji nations) and I don’t recall Derek Tipper asking me my views on the Wenlock River and I do not recall calling out to Premier Newman. When the Cape York Regional Plan draft was presented to the public, for which despite what Mr Tipper implies, there has been immense time and opportunity for the people of Cape York to submit recommendations to, there were indeed a number of Strategic Environmental Areas (SEAs). An SEA skirting Mapoon has resulted in community outrage (all of which is ignored by The Wilderness Society, other green groups and Mr Tipper) because it was one of the final green nails in the coffin for the people of Cape York and in particular Mapoon. Mapoon was relying on some form of industry expansion to see the people there be provided with training and employment opportunities- ergo a livelihood worthy of any other Australian. The particular SEA Mr Tipper refers to protects the Steve
Irwin Wildlife Reserve, which the people of the Cape will recall was gifted to the Irwin’s to contribute to their already multi-million dollar property portfolio at the cost of millions of tax-payer’s dollars. Traditional Owners of that area have been refused access to what is their cultural heritage and land (see links: http://www.abc.net. au/news/2013-09-13/traditionalowners-say-access-denied-toparts-of-steve-irwin-re/4955494, and, http://www.couriermail.com. au/news/queensland/traditionalowners-at-cape-york-will-fightthe-nature-refuge-decision-onthe-steve-irwin-wildlife-reserve/ story-e6freoof-1226581463321) but Mr Tipper seems not to have consulted with these Traditional Owners. Don’t get me wrong, I have incredible respect for Mr Stanley Budby however in this regard his ambitions on having the Premier protect i.e. close the land around the Wenlock River will result in there being no progress or viable future for his and my people. He is a ranger, he should know there is such a thing as sustainable, viable use of land; to ignore that reality is to doom the people of Cape York who already live under a dismal one-industry economy with a cripplingly high cost of living. I’m not pro-mining, in fact I am pro environmental sustainable
economic/industry diversification such as ecotourism and agriculture all of which will have no hope if the State Government continue to close off the region. In conclusion I would like to see Mr Tipper’s petition of every single Traditional Owner of Mapoon (of which I am one) and Mapoon Land & Sea Rangers (some of which are my kin) agreeing with him, elsewise I would like Mr Tipper and his affiliates to cease from such statements. Statements which are so general that they verge on utter lies. Mr Tipper specialises in presenting to the affluent city voters a very warped view of the over-all mindset of the people of the Cape and I hope that after reading my response to his article, that people see that the people of the Cape do not need or appreciate the likes of Derek Tipper and The Wilderness Society speaking for us anymore. We have a voice and we have our truth, sorry if it doesn’t fit in with Mr Tipper’s sweeping generalisations. In fact the only aspect of his article which I agree on with Mr Tipper, and Mr Budby, is the need to have the Premier and his team visit the Cape and speak to the people. Let them come and see us and hear from us directly and I think he will find the majority of the people of the Cape have a very different view to the insular one of Mr Tipper and The Wilderness Society.” Jack is an Aboriginal Affairs advocate from Cape York Peninsula and is a board member of Cape York Sustainable Futures Inc. the peak-body organisation for advocacy and regional development in the Cape.
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