Editor, The Age: Sir, The claim by Indigenous leaders that the Emissions Trading Scheme legislation before parliament bypasses their communities, which have been practicing environmental-friendly land management on millions of hectares over thousands of years, must be heeded.
In calling for the right to trade in carbon credits, worth millions of dollars, Aboriginal communities are not seeking a hand-out but recognition of the key contribution they are have already made to the national good on greenhouse gases through preserving trees.
Once again, by marginalising the indigenous people – this time, on carbon credits – government leaders are preventing them entering the real economy, something they have been urged to do ever since their exclusion, decades ago, from the cattle industry, in which they played a major pioneering role.
If, as a nation, we are serious about a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme,Aboriginal landholders and their councils must consulted and involved.
– Keith McEwan, CLA member, Bendigo. Victoria