Taylor’s call on Kingvale
Minister to decide fate of 2000ha station
THE political football that is Kingvale station has been booted to Angus Taylor after a Federal Court ruling.
A recent ruling by Justice John Edward Griffiths has set aside the “decision under review” to clear 2000 hectares of land at Kingvale station, near Laura.
Justice Griffiths based his order on the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Regulations 2000, and referred the matter to Minister for the Environment Angus Taylor.
The decision is the latest chapter in an ongoing saga that has drawn in the Federal Government and the Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch, station owner Scott Harris, traditional owners the Olkala indigenous corporation, the Australian Conservation Foundation and the environment Council of Central Queensland.
The ECCQ brought the latest challenge to the Federal Court.
‘The Minister for the Environment must now reconsider the tree clearing application,” the ECCQ’s Christine Carlisle said.
“The minister should require the applicant to undertake rigorous assessment of the impacts the clearing will have on the environment, on the habitat of threatened native species and on the Great Barrier Reef’.
Mr Entsch said he remained a “strong supporter” of the proposed clearing at Kingvale.
“That position has changed,” Mr Entsch said.
“Any land clearing that is likely to have an impact on matters of national environmental significance must be assessed under federal environmental law.”
Meanwhile, the ACF has released not briefs from 2016 pertaining to show support for the clearing by Mr Entsch – which he openly maintains – and two Queensland senators.
“The Federal Government’s decisions about the assessment and approval of land clearing at Kingvale have been more about politics than science” said ACF Nature Campaigner, Andrew Picone said.
The Olkala Corporation and the minister’s office have been asked for comment.