This Cape York property was taken over by Australian Wildlife Conservancy 15 years ago. Then there was almost no regrowth behind the gates. This photo is two years year old and the regrowth has appeared since the cattle were removed and the hotter fires disappeared. This organisation controls 13 million ha of former cattle grazing country nation-wide. What will it be like in another 20 years?

By Jim O’Toole

The only honest Great Barrier Reef scientist in Australia Dr Peter Ridd (above), was kicked out of James Cook University for exposing false claims by fellow researchers that the reef is in poor health. Their motive was to grab more federal grant money for a problem that did not exist.

Here Dr Ridd exposes the Labor/Greens myth that Australia must plant millions of trees and that ‘climate change’ is destroying the planet because CO2 levels are too high.

There are far more trees covering Australia now than in 1770, 1970 and 2000. Cape York Peninsula is a perfect example of vegetation thickening. Regrowth woody species including black wattle, ti-tree, quinine, bloodwood and gums now cover 30 per cent of once open grasslands on Cape York north of the 16th Parallel.

Aboriginal elders have taken our contributors to various Cape York locations and after listening to the local tribes and speaking to local pastoralists there is no doubt much of the Peninsula has been overrun by woody regrowth in just 50 years, partly due to the absence of the Aboriginal firestick.

The Gillard federal Labor government 12 years ago introduced carbon credit burning for woodlands which has contributed to vast areas of thickening in Australia because of ‘cool fire’ burning ideology. This thickening has reduced stock carrying capacity dramatically which in return reduces the value of the property and the debt to equity ratio which allows banks to foreclose on hapless landowners.

Under the carbon scheme regulations, burning is allowed up to July 31 which should produce cooler fires and land holders are then able to claim a set tonnage rate of CO2 per hectare of cool burn. The tonnage is sold on the world market to multinational corporations wanting to offset their CO2 emissions. The land holder of broad acre property receives this amount sometimes up to $500,000 or more if a large area has been burnt before July 31.

If there are any fires on the same property after the qualifying date the calculated CO2 tonnage is deducted from any credit for that year. It is the later, hotter fires which kill the unwanted regrowth. Cooler fires propagate thickening.

Only the Labor, Liberal, Greens triumvirate could devise a scam like this.