Community & Business
8 April, 2022
State to buy more Cape York land
AN extra $20 million has been allocated by the Queensland Government for voluntary land purchase to be jointly managed by traditional owners as new national parks and Aboriginal freehold on Cape York.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the funding followed the recent purchase by the government of two of the State’s northernmost cattle properties – Bramwell Station and Richardson Station – to link existing national parks into a one-million-hectare protection zone.
“By returning this land to traditional custodians, we can work together to conserve the significant natural and cultural treasures of Cape York,” the Premier said.
“It will also create jobs and opportunities for locals into the future.”
Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon said more than 3.85 million hectares of Cape York Peninsula land has been transferred to Traditional Owners by the Cape York Peninsula Tenure Resolution Program.
“This is about land justice,” Ms Scanlon said. “We share an ugly and uncomfortable history in this country and our First Nations communities have waited generations to have their land back.”
Ms Scanlon said an extra $38.5 million over the next four years had been allocated to continue the CYPTR Program and to manage certain Cape York lands.
“Since the Goss government, we’ve united more than one million hectares of protected areas and Aboriginal land,” Minister Scanlon said.
