The Federal Government said it would not support the private member's bill Mr Abbott plans to introduce into Parliament next month to quash Queensland's controversial wild rivers legislation.

Mr Abbott said the state law, which protects pristine waterways from development, denied Aboriginal people on the Cape economic opportunities.

''It's about locking up the land in ways which deny Aboriginal people their legitimate right to use it for their own benefit,'' Mr Abbott, who met indigenous leaders in Cairns yesterday, told the ABC.

But Queensland's Natural Resources Minister, Stephen Robertson, said: ''I can only think this is more about the next federal election and [the Liberals'] desire to win back the seat of Leichhardt than it is about any real concern about communities in Cape York.

''Any reasonable reading of the wild rivers legislation and the declarations of the Stewart, Lockhart and Archer rivers shows economic opportunities are hard-wired into those declarations.''

Despite claims by Cape York indigenous leader Noel Pearson to the contrary, the wild rivers legislation permits grazing, ecotourism, fishing, mining, aquaculture, animal husbandry and extracting water for community use on the Cape, subject to certain conditions. It also permits indigenous cultural activities.

A spokesperson for acting federal Environment Minister Penny Wong said: "The Government will continue to take practical steps, tied to concrete goals, to close the gap that exists between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.''

The Greens also refused to back Mr Abbott's bill. "The Coalition's environment policy is two-pronged: refer national responsibilities, like World Heritage nominations, to the states, and override state legislation which protects nationally significant assets,'' Greens leader Bob Brown said. ''Both ways, Australia's wild natural heritage gets torpedoed."