[Aliantha]

The land has no particular value to anyone. It's over run with ferral pigs which are harmful in just about every way you can imagine, and yet the Irwin group used the pigs as their reason for protecting the area. No wonder they lost.

The lease is for a bauxite mine which will only run for about 10 to 20 years, so in terms of mining, it's a very short project.

In Australia, you'll find the Irwins don't have anywhere near the profile they do overseas because we have to live with the consequences of some of their actions. While I agree that conservation is a good idea in theory, we must consider the notion of sustainable development if we're to ever get anywhere as a race. Unfortunately the Irwins are against development in general, even in areas where the environmental impacts will be minimal.

I wonder if they considered that when they chopped down heaps of trees etc to build 'Australia Zoo' and the carpark.

ETA: Dazza was one of the environmental scientists who worked on the study for the land on Cape York on behalf of the mining company so the info I'm giving you is first hand.