Cape York cattle producers have come together to fight the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service’s “reign of terror” which they claim has seen their cattle shot should they stray into national parks.
The new group, Cape York Cattle Growers elected long-time Peninsula producer John Witherspoon as Chairman and spokesman to deal with recent threats by QPWS to seize their cattle by the end of October if they are not removed from national parks.
A number of landholders adjoining parks had received letters warning them to remove their stock or they would be seized and disposed of.
Citing their inability to get a permit from the service to be able to remove cattle was hindering any chance of removing them.
“We applied for a permit to muster stock in Batavia National Park and the former Bromley holding but couldn’t get a permit which took 12 months and by then the cattle had moved,” Mr Witherspoon said.
“When we eventually got a permit we had only a month to find cattle and get them out, and that was only for Batavia not Bromley.
“Not only that the QPWS want us to register all vehicles and have costly insurance for men who go into the park.
“We already have these policies on our own properties and registration should not be necessary because we are not travelling on public roads.”
Since 2019 the QPWS had shot many thousands of cattle around the Peninsula which did not belong to them Mr Witherspoon pointed out.
“In 1989 at the end of the Brucellosis and Tuberculosis Eradication Campaign (BTEC) the Department of Primary Industries declared Cape York free of cattle after tens of thousands were shot,” he said.
“All cattle that were brought back into the Peninsula belonged to the producers who bought them. National parks have never owned cattle and because they refuse to fence their vast areas of pig-breeding grounds we should not have to be continually threatened to have our cattle shot.
“The QPWS claim they are shooting only unbranded stock but that is impossible to do when in a helicopter shooting galloping cattle and besides all cattle unbranded or not belong to somebody.
“The parks have been running a reign of terror over private cattlemen on the Peninsula for years threatening to prosecute cattle owners if they enter a park to get their cattle. Recently a Coen producer said he got a letter saying he was going to be prosecuted for entering a neighboring park to put out lick blocks along the boundary.”
Musgrave producer Glen Shephard said he believed all mustering permits were given to traditional owners for approval before landowners were allowed to retrieve their cattle from parks.
“This is why it takes so long to get a permit because the TO’s can be hard to find,” he said.
Chairing the meeting was Katters Australian Party candidate for Cook Duane Amos who told the meeting there was no legislative requirement to register private vehicles for use on private property.
He said the demands placed on landowners by QPWS for removing their stock was placing producers under unnecessary stress.
A resolution was passed at the meeting that every national park be treated equally for the issue of permits to muster and there must be a single point of contact and permits should be issued over the phone to remove cattle before they moved to another area.
Mr Amos said KAP member for Hill Shane Knuth had already raised the shooting of cattle in parliament and questioned the Minister about the permit system.
“KAP will be demanding the Minister reveal how many cattle have been shot on Cape York over recent years and demanding that no more shooting or any seizures take place.”
