POWER IN THE DAINTREE
WHO'S GOT THE POWER?
When the previous Queensland National Party was in government prior to 1989, they attempted to provide grid-connected electrical power to the Daintree Rainforest, which would have led the way to massive, uncontrolled development. The local community fought this, assisted by a sympathetic Queensland Labor Government, which came to power in 1989. The Queensland National/Liberal Coalition then regained power in 1994; and the new Minister for Mines and Energy vowed to supply grid power to the Daintree.
The next Queensland State election on June 13, 1998 saw a severe split of the right-wing parties by the "One Nation" phenomenon, which resulted in a "hung" parliament. The Labor party (centrist) gained power with the support of a right-of-center independent member, a very tenuous grip on electoral office indeed.Following the last Australian Federal elections, the Howard Federal National-Liberal Coalition party was returned to power. The National Liberal Coalition has shown itself to be indifferent or hostile to addressing environmental issues, or funding environmental organisations.
The new Queensland Labor Government has continued its policy of opposing the extension of the grid, and supporting the spread of alternative energy sources, and supporting the buy-back of the land. However, the Howard (Federal Nat-Lib) Government's Minister for the Environment has demonstrated considerable hostility to the issue of land buy-back.
Buy-back of freehold land (at a reasonable market price) is considered to be the only mechanism that is acceptable to the majority of residents in the Daintree.
Most of the clamor for grid power in the area has been driven by the intense desire of a few, better-off, older residents who bought land in the region for their retirement, to leave the area, as the climate is very stressful during the summer wet season, and without the benefits of air-conditioning and the like, intolerable for many. These people, not surprisingly, want top dollar for their properties, and do not have a high regard for the intrinsic values of the area - providing grid power would, at the taxpayer's expense (and the environment's), give a major lift to their fortunes. Others just want to leave, as the costs and difficulties of living here far outweigh the benefits.
The Daintree has been the subject of more studies and Environmental Impact Assessments than practically any other rural area in Australia, almost all designed to estimate the costs of providing grid power, or to assess the impacts of providing grid power, or avoiding decision making.
While the State Government has been prepared to fund buy-back, they have not been prepared to "go it alone", presumably because of the additional costs involved, and the Federal Government has insisted in yet another "study" - this time the "Daintree Futures Study", which is due to make public its findings in mid October 2000. (This site consists of Acrobat files of detailed maps of the vegetation, settlement, and other aspects of the Daintree lowlands, as well as an Acrobat copy of the report (some 61 pp) - clicking on them automatically starts the downloading process). A critique of this study from the Daintree Rainforest Task force can be found at Critique. You will need the maps that are available on the Futures Study to make sense of many of the issues.
To-date, the Daintree Futures Study refuses to face the issue of buy-back, preferring to set up an extremely complex arrangement of reduction in landholder's rights, and the provision of grid power as far as Cooper Creek (see map below). Given the high regard for "free holder's rights" in this region, this is guaranteed to create a political backlash. It also ignores the fact that the Queensland Department of Minerals and Energy has been providing generous grants to householders in the area to install renewable energy systems. The Daintree presently (Sept. 2000) has over 200 renewable energy systems, making it the largest non-intentional (that is, because there is no other option available) renewable energy community in Australia, if not the world.