MORE than a year after it was expected, the state government has unveiled its Kimberley Science and Conservation Strategy, a $63 million plan to cautiously protect the region’s most important cultural and natural assets.
Despite the delay, the strategy was welcomed by industry, which has been watching over its shoulder as Canberra deliberates its own potentially grander plan for the Kimberley.
The region is seen a future battleground between industry and conservationists, with the arm wrestle over the development of the James Price Point LNG hub north of Broome viewed as an important skirmish.
Last week’s state strategy launch, which took place amid a crisis for the region’s cattle industry, was a low-key affair. In general, that is because the strategy does little to blot out vast areas of land from exploitation compared to the federal government’s Australian Heritage Council assessment process, which indicated a great swath of land from Wyndham to Hall Creek to Derby could have reason to be protected.
Instead, the state government has concentrated on developing a series of marine parks along the coast, protecting the many islands that sit on the continental shelf and upgrading the massive Prince Regent conservation area to national park status.
The plan, launched by Premier Colin Barnett and Environment Minister Bill Marmion, gives considerable focus to working with Aboriginal people in the region to develop economic opportunities in conservation such as tourism.
From an industry perspective, the strategy has something to offer tourism, is supportive of diversification for pastoral leases and has $3 million earmarked for a geochemical and geophysical survey to improve knowledge of this big area’s resources before further parts are locked from development.
State Labor environment spokesperson Sally Talbot questioned whether the strategy contained anything meaningful in terms of protecting the region from big development.
“The latest version of the plan does not say which parts of the Kimberley are protected and what is up for grabs by industry,” Ms Talbot said.
