WA: Aboriginal groups may have a say in WA forests future

AAP General News (Australia)
04-12-1999
WA: Aboriginal groups may have a say in WA forests future

A wildcard has been thrown into Western Australia's controversial logging debate after an
Aboriginal group's native title claim over 10,000km in the south-west received the green
light.

Lodged by the Noongar Land Council, the South West Boojarah claim has united 14 separate
Aboriginal groups.

It covers the towns of Busselton, Margaret River, Pemberton and Augusta in the heart of the
state's logging industry.

The logging debate has been an acid test for both the government of Premier RICHARD COURT
and the State Opposition, as Western Australia prepares to sign a Regional Forest Agreement
with the federal government.

The agreement will set the state's logging levels for the next 20 years.

It has already sparked angry protests from timber workers who fear job losses and
environmentalists who want assurance that old growth forests will be protected under the deal.

Noongar Land Council spokeswoman LYNETTE LUND says the Boojarah claim covers several state
forests and could have implications for the logging industry.

She says the council will begin negotiations with the Department of Conservation and Land
Management and it's possible that objections to logging in old-growth forests will be raised.

AAP RTV alm/pr/am/jn

KEYWORD: BOOJARAH (PERTH)

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