ARTICLES ABC 10/02/05 et 11/01/05 (3) EXPORTATIONS...

[Caroline]

ARTICLE 1

Aborigines seek licence to export native animals

The North Queensland Land Council wants a licence to export native flora and fauna.

Council chairman Terry O'Shane says the body wants permission from the Federal Government to harvest animals and plants from land where it has native title rights.

He says allowing Aboriginal people to hunt and export fauna and flora would help stop the illegal trade.

Mr O'Shane says it would also create employment and conservation opportunities for Aboriginal people.

"It would develop an economy for us which would allow our people to stay on country for the whole of the year," he said.

"We would be able to go through and monitor the reptiles and birds and so forth and so on.

"We would monitor all that happening, the time of the season when they are going through their mating time [and] where they are nesting."

ARTICLE 2

Aborigines seek role to fight pests

The North Queensland Land Council wants a licence from the Federal Government so Indigenous people can hunt and export native plants and animals from traditional land.

The council's Terry O'Shane says Aboriginal people should also be given the chance to monitor wildlife numbers.

He says they should be allowed to play a role in fighting pests such as the cane toad which are threatening the environment.

"Our own mob in terms of caring for country should be part of the group of people that are monitoring what is happening in terms of our country, because it is our country, we have our rights to it, we have our native title rights and this is absolutely destroying our rights that we actually have," he said.

"There's no compensation for that when our food chain is being destroyed."