BRISBANE, Australia, April 3 (UPI) -- The government in the Australian state of Queensland is violating the rights of the Aboriginal people, an activist for the minority group said.
Aboriginal activist Noel Pearson said Queensland Premier Anna Bligh was "urinating" on his people's rights by allegedly violating the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, The Australian said in its Saturday edition.
"Today, as Prime Minister (Kevin) Rudd is signing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Queensland premier is urinating on that document even before the ink is dry," Pearson said.
Pearson said an announcement that three Cape York rivers were now being considered so-called wild rivers was purposefully delayed by the government to secure victory in last week's elections.
"The Queensland government under Premier Bligh obviously made a commitment to the Wilderness Society to keep quiet about all this so they could drop the bomb after they got elected on green preferences," Pearson alleged.
The activist insists the Archer, Lockhart and Stewart rivers are in pristine condition thanks to his people and the minority group should be allowed to build nearby despite the designation in an effort to end Aboriginal poverty.
