17. As concerns the Wet Tropics of Queensland (Australia), the representative of IUCN informed the Committee that the Director-General of IUCN, after hearing the Bureau's concern regarding the participation of an IUCN expert as a witness in a national legal proceeding involving the conservation of a World Heritage site, had informed the Australian authorities that it would not be appropriate for IUCN to appear in the proceedings of a court case in a State Party. The observer of Australia then informed the Committee that following the recent elections in Queensland and the change in the State authority that had followed, the State Government of Queensland had abandoned its opposition to the World Heritage listing of the Wet Tropics of Queensland and hence the need for an expert witness no longer prevailed.
Decision 13 COM VIII.17
SOC: Wet Tropics of Queensland (Australia)
Documents
SC-89/CONF.004/12
Report of the World Heritage Committee