A substantial piece in life' : viabilities, realities and given futures at the Wild Rivers inquiries

Introduction: Cape York and the Wild Rivers Act Controversy. Since it was first enacted, the Wild Rivers Act (henceforth referred to as the Act), has been the subject of often sensational and divisive debate and controversial (mis)interpretation. It first came into being in early 2004 when the then Premier Peter Beattie and his State of Queensland Labor government, working from the findings of the Australian Heritage Commission's 'Wild River's Project', identified nineteen of Queensland's rivers as potential 'Wild Rivers'. In September 2005 the Act was passed, creating a system for the gazettal and declaration of Wild River areas and becoming the country's first legislation to specifically identify and protect 'near-pristine' rivers and their tributaries. The first waterways to be officially declared were in the Staaten, Settlement, Morning Inlet, Hinchinbrook, Gregory, and Fraser Island Wild River areas (February 2007). In the next four years, four rivers were declared in Cape York Peninsula, namely the Lockhart, Stewart and Archer areas (April 2009), ahead of the Wenlock catchment (June 2010). More recently, three areas were declared in the Lake Eyre basin in the southwest of the State (December 2011). Before being elected in March 2012, leader of the conservative Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) C ampbell Newman vowed to 'axe' the Act. His forthcoming Regional Management Plan instead aims to rebrand and retain some aspects of the Wild Rivers regime and remove others. For instance, the 45 Indigenous Australian 'Wild Rivers Rangers' employed by the State government, 27 of whom are stationed in the C ape, were recently renamed 'Queensland Indigenous Land and Sea Rangers'.