Our Kuranda property was recently sprayed with the herbicide Roundup by Council workers without our authorisation. Our property adjoins Jumrum Creek which ultimately flows to the Great Barrier Reef via the Barron River. Due to the ecological sensitivity of our property and region, we initiated a formal complaint through the Queensland Ombudsman. Mareeba Shire Council’s actions and subsequent dismissive response reveals a common belief that Roundup is innocuous. While this complacency has been fostered through decades of aggressive marketing by agrochemical company Monsanto, there is mounting research suggesting Roundup is toxic not only to the environment, but to human health.

In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified Roundup’s declared principle ingredient ‘glyphosate’ as "probably carcinogenic to humans"[1]. The European Chemicals Agency has classified it “a substance causing serious eye damage and being toxic to aquatic life with long-lasting effects"[2]. After bitter division in 2017 the European Union approved a limited 5-year licence for glyphosate, with France declaring a ban within 3 years. Currently, more than 700 US farmers, landscapers & gardeners are involved in a lawsuit against Monsanto claiming that exposure to glyphosate caused their cancers.[3]

Gas Pipelines Planned For Cape York and Across Northern Queensland

Two members of FoE Kuranda and CSG Free Kuranda along with 120 people from around the country attended a Lock the Gate conference in Lismore. Some of the new gas proposals for our region that were discussed was the gas pipeline from New Guinea through Cape York as well as the gas pipeline coming across from the Northern Territory and on down to export facilities at Gladstone. These pipelines would also enable gasfields to be developed all along their route. Currently over half of Queensland and Australia is covered by coal and gas licenses and could be turned into gasfields.

Here is an inspiring example of what community action was able to achieve on related forestry issues in Northern NSW.

This article also names the chemicals used in forestry operations.

No Spray, No Way community fights chemical weed spraying in Gladstone state forest

March 16, 2015 in Media

It has been described as a laid-back, tree-fringed town with a community that prides itself on making a living out of organic farming and healthy lifestyles.

So when residents around Bellingen in the state’s north were told that the nearby Gladstone State forest was about to be aerially sprayed by the Forestry Corporation with a cocktail of chemical weed killers they reacted angrily and immediately mounted a campaign to stop it.

“We set up camps in the forest, on the helipad site and the entrance to the forest to run around-the-clock on-ground vigilance at all times,” said resident and No Spray No Way campaigner Susan Weil.

“Forestry Corporation was not allowed to conduct any aerial spraying while there were community members in the forest and we took full advantage of this protocol,” Ms Weil told Fairfax Media.

Trouble started with the announcement from the Forestry Corporation that an area that had become overrun with weeds after it was logged for hardwood was going to be sprayed from a helicopter to kill the weeds before a new plantation of timber was planted. Forestry Corporation said it was planning to mix four chemcials and herbicides: Glyphosate, Metsulfurin Methyl, Fluroxypyr and Simazine and the adjuvants Liaise and Pulse, to do the job.