Canada and Australia - Comparing Environmental Policies in 16 Countries - page 155

danger, the commonwealth government objected that that was interfering
in a domestic issue. Mining was limited, however, due to the low price
of uranium on the international market. While it did not officially defy
the World Heritage Center, the Commonwealth government under John
Howard ignored its duty to implement the convention. 18
Uluru National Park, also on the World Heritage List, has been a flash
point for tension between Aborigines and whites. Uluru is the massive
stone monolith that rises a thousand feet high out of the desert scrub in
the Red Center, a thousand miles from the populated southeast coast.
As sunlight plays across it, the rock changes from red to purple to blue.
Its English name is Ayers Rock. Aborigines consider it sacred, the focus
of their spiritual origins. In 1985 legal title was handed back to the
Aborigines, who manage it jointly with non-Aborigines. Visitors hear a
mixed message, that climbing is allowed, but please do not do it, and that
photography is allowed but not here or here.
The Daintree forest on the northeast coast of Queensland was the center
of conflict between the timber industry and environmentalists during the
1980s. This is a rare remnant of the tropical rain forest that once covered
much of the continent in ancient time. In spite of citizen demonstrations,
the Queensland government built a road from the Daintree River north
to Cooktown. The primitive track was poorly constructed, leading to ero-
sion and washouts, but it gave access to cut the trees commercially. In the
1987 federal election campaign, Labor promised to list the area as a World
Heritage site, which it did upon winning. In turn the Queensland govern-
ment challenged the listing in the High Court. Then in the state election
the following year the Labor Party won, and withdrew the legal challenge,
thus protecting the park.
The Commonwealth has continued to expand protection. In 2012 it
established the Coral Sea Marine Reserve in the area off shore from the
Great Barrier Reef. The area of almost one million square kilometer will be
managed for its biodiversity. All mining and oil drilling will be excluded.
Commercial fishing will be restricted. The area is famous for its dive sites,
including Osprey Reef with its impressive shark populations. During World
War II the Battle of the Coral Sea between Japan and the Allies (Australia,
Britain, and the United States) 5 months after the attack on Pearl Harbor
was the first one the Allies did not lose. Like the United States, Australia is
extending its protection of nature into the oceans as sites on land are used up.
At the 1992 Earth Summit at Rio, Australia signed the Framework
Convention on Climate Change. But the treaty was vague and awaited