The Kimberley: a green future

The Community Development Employment Program (CDEP), which for the past 20 years has given many communities their economic foundation, is closing down this year, to be replaced by a new ‘job network’ scheme. This policy is to ‘transition’ Aboriginal people into mainstream work: jobs in the so-called ‘real economy’. And what is that ‘real economy’? It is the James Price Point gas hub and the regional industrial future that will flow from it.

What we are seeing is tragic public policy failure being played out in the Kimberley. This is a region with abundant untapped non-mineral wealth. The people sharing this astonishing land and seascape are natural entrepreneurs. In the 21 years that I have lived in the Kimberley I have witnessed an extraordinary growth in tourism and its spinoffs for local businesses. The value of tourism to the region in 2009 was $276M. Compared to other industries (aquaculture $67M, Fishing $9.8M, Pearling $64M), it is a major economic driver that should be further developed through investment, not overwhelmed by industrialization. The Kimberley Development Commission lists nature-based, cultural and adventure tourism as growing opportunities for the region. We say these opportunities are put at risk by industrialization.

Then there are the arts — music, painting, performing arts thrive here — aquaculture and horticulture, Aboriginal environmental management and the beginnings of the carbon economy. There is unlimited potential in the new and emerging industries such as renewable energy generation and IT development. There is scope for basing scientific research and education in the region. This is where the future of the Kimberley lies, and this is where The Greens will seek to ensure that public and private investment is directed.  The Greens have long been committed to returning royalties to the regions, but we would support and encourage investment in tomorrow’s, not yesterday’s industries.

The stated goal of the Royalties for Regions program is to ‘build strong and vibrant regional communities that are desirable places to live’. Few people would know that, over the past four years, $80 million of RFR has been allocated to an Exploration Incentive Scheme, subsidising mineral resource exploration in WA. This includes just over $1million for uranium exploration. Not by any stretch of the imagination could uranium exploration result in a ‘vibrant regional community that is a desirable place to live’.

The Greens want to see  investment in the Kimberley’s environmental and cultural economic assets, not in the creation of an industrial wasteland in one of the great regions of the earth.