Friends of the Earth Kuranda has deep concerns about the latest draft plan for this region. 

Noting the Mareeba Shire Council seems intent in having its new Shire plan finalised in the near future, we urge anyone who shares our concerns to take action NOW.

There are a few things you can do..

• Write now to the State Government asking that this unsatisfactory plan is not approved. It's best to write to the deputy premier who is responsible for considering approval [email protected] and cc to Craig Crawford our [email protected]
• Protest to Mareeba Shire Council
• Come to the public consultation meeting run by Council in Kuranda on Monday November 2nd
• Come to the public meeting organised by Friends of the Earth Kuranda on Tuesday 10th November.
• Talk about the issues with family and friends and encourage more people to get active

Here's some details about our concerns -and also to show the difference between the old, amalgamated Tablelands Regional Council Draft Plan 2012 and the latest Mareeba Shire Draft Plan 2015:

A innovative new way to protect and preserve the environment is to bestow legal personality to significant ecosystems.

Legal personality means that a person or entity has rights and duties in law. These rights commonly include the right to be free from unlawful interference, and the rights to exist, persist and reproduce. Where the rights of a legal person or entity are breached, they have the right to seek enforcement and a remedy through the legal system.

Friends of the Earth Kuranda organized a forum on 26th May 2014. The Forum focused on the Kuranda town water, which is supplied from the Barron River.

The forum was attended by the Mareeba Shire Mayor Tom Gilmore, Deputy Mayor Jenny Jensen and a senior council staff member, plus a wide cross-section of people from the local area.

As environmentalists in Far North Queensland gear up for a campaign to stop this very special part of the world being assaulted by the coal seam gas (CSG) industry, here are two items of good cheer.

Media Release – 15th May 2014

What is the current state of the water in the Barron river catchment and our drinking water? How does the water quality change with rainfall and drier times? What sort of tests are done for what sort of chemicals and pollutants?

Explosions at the Fukushima Reactor Building 3 on 31 Dec 2013 are causing concern. Is that the reactor in the process of uncontrolled meltdown? The implications of this would be serious as 89 tons of nuclear fuel are contained in this building, which could then be released into the atmosphere.

Even before the recent explosion, the west coast of North and South America was being affected by a significant increases of radiation. Iodine supplementation is being recommended by doctors to prevent thyroid cancer from the increased radiation levels. Experts are now warning that ‘the days of eating Pacific Ocean fish are over’.

The new Queensland Government’s recent overturning of Queensland’s 23-year ban on Uranium mining needs to be reconsidered for many reasons – not least the recurring accidents at nuclear power plants over decades-from Chernobyl to Fukishima – plus the unresolved issue of where to dump the toxic nuclear waste.