Warren Entsch fails Cape York environment protection test

With the release of our federal election scorecard, the Wilderness Society in Cairns focused on making Cape York protection a high priority in the Far North seat of Leichhardt.

Entsch's bad mark for the environment, August 2010

In a lively action on Tuesday outside the Cairns office of Warren Entsch, LNP Candidate for Leichhardt, the Wilderness Society displayed a banner grading the major parties based on their policies to protect Cape York.

The Greens and Labor were both earned a green tick with their committments to support work towards a World Heritage listing for Cape York, based around the consent of Traditional Owners.

However, Warren Entsch and Tony Abbott have failed to say anything positive about protecting Cape York, and instead have vowed to tear up existing protection laws for places like to pristine and iconic Wenlock River (recently saved from bauxite mining).

Cape York is one of the last great wild and unprotected places on Earth, it is unquestionably worthy of World Heritage status, which would ensure natural and cultural protection, but also deliver many new jobs and investment in Cairns and on the Cape.

The Wilderness Society grades the major parties on Cape York Protection, August 2010.

An array of Cape York creatures - Kate the palm cockatoo, Di the golden-shouldered parrot, and Pete the crocodile – tried to present a ‘big red fail mark’ to Mr Entsch for failing to commit to protect Cape York’s natural and cultural heritage values.

Sadly, he didn’t emerge from his office to collect his award, and his staff refused to accept it on his behalf. So, the Wilderness Society will be on the lookout for Mr Entsch before the election to see he gets the prize and the message.

The TWS national election scorecard shows that overall, while the Greens are showing strong leadership on a range of environmental policies, Labor and the Liberal-National Parties are both missing-in-action.

To see how all the major parties stack up on our environment priorities this election, view our election scorecard.