❓ The Minister for Environment provides an update on the McGowan Labor government's environmental initiatives, including expanding conservation estates, phasing out plastics, and promoting electric vehicles. The response highlights achievements and future plans.
AnsweredQoN 838Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
838. Ms J.L. HANNS to the Minister for Environment:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's commitment to protecting the environment, including
through its historic decision to end logging in our south west native forests.
Can the minister update the house on the work underway to further improve our
environment, including through reducing waste, phasing out plastics, expanding
our conservation estate and encouraging the take-up of electric vehicles?
838. Ms J.L. HANNS to the Minister for Environment:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's commitment to protecting the environment, including
through its historic decision to end logging in our south west native forests.
Can the minister update the house on the work underway to further improve our
environment, including through reducing waste, phasing out plastics, expanding
our conservation estate and encouraging the take-up of electric vehicles?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Collie–Preston
for her question. I was delighted to join both her and the Premier at
Wellington National Park on Sunday, last weekend, to announce an expansion of
Wellington National Park by another 7 000 hectares, which brings it to 25 000 hectares.
It is a really important national park on our doorstep. We checked out the 15
kilometres of mountain bike trails that are being incredibly well used. I have
to say it was cranking down there. It is so
busy that we have to expand the car park. It is a really important part of our
Plan for Our Parks. There is the expansion of five million hectares of
our conservation estate on land and sea country. That is an important part of the preservation and
protection of our important environment, whether it is the rangelands, the Kimberley, the Pilbara or Esperance. This is a really important policy and
achievement from the state government.
We have also created the Houtman
Abrolhos Islands National Park and committed $10 million to its ongoing better
protection and management. We have also expanded Murujuga National Park, as
well as Yalgorup National Park by over 1 000
hectares. We are in the process of creating Fitzroy River national park,
Buccaneer Archipelago marine park and Matuwa and Kurrara Kurrara national
park, and have created Kalgulup Regional Park in Bunbury. All this is complemented by the $50 million Aboriginal
ranger program, which is a policy and program we are very proud of in this government. We have a renewed focus on
co-design with Aboriginal people and traditional owners on that program
with the funding. I think that will roll out spectacularly for those
communities over the next four years.
As the member said, our native
logging policy, announced earlier this year, complements our expansion of the
national parks, and was clearly vindicated by the COP26 decision, which called
on governments globally to end logging
within 10 years. It was clearly vindicated as an important tool in our toolkit
for fighting climate change. We have also announced our native vegetation
policy, which aims to understand what native vegetation we have across the
state and to prioritise rehabilitation where we need to, as well as assist in
offsets and where we can prioritise them.
As
the member mentioned, we have fast-tracked our Plan for Plastics. By 31
December this year, a whole range of single-use plastics will be banned,
and by 31 December 2022, we will move to harder plastics, such as thick plastic
bags and coffee cups. That will reduce millions of tonnes of plastics that go
into our waste stream and our oceans. We are
spending $21 million on implementing the longest network of electric vehicle
charging stations in the country . That
will be outstanding, so people can have confidence that they can travel around Western
Australia in their electric vehicles, be able to charge their cars and
get to their destinations.
for her question. I was delighted to join both her and the Premier at
Wellington National Park on Sunday, last weekend, to announce an expansion of
Wellington National Park by another 7 000 hectares, which brings it to 25 000 hectares.
It is a really important national park on our doorstep. We checked out the 15
kilometres of mountain bike trails that are being incredibly well used. I have
to say it was cranking down there. It is so
busy that we have to expand the car park. It is a really important part of our
Plan for Our Parks. There is the expansion of five million hectares of
our conservation estate on land and sea country. That is an important part of the preservation and
protection of our important environment, whether it is the rangelands, the Kimberley, the Pilbara or Esperance. This is a really important policy and
achievement from the state government.
We have also created the Houtman
Abrolhos Islands National Park and committed $10 million to its ongoing better
protection and management. We have also expanded Murujuga National Park, as
well as Yalgorup National Park by over 1 000
hectares. We are in the process of creating Fitzroy River national park,
Buccaneer Archipelago marine park and Matuwa and Kurrara Kurrara national
park, and have created Kalgulup Regional Park in Bunbury. All this is complemented by the $50 million Aboriginal
ranger program, which is a policy and program we are very proud of in this government. We have a renewed focus on
co-design with Aboriginal people and traditional owners on that program
with the funding. I think that will roll out spectacularly for those
communities over the next four years.
As the member said, our native
logging policy, announced earlier this year, complements our expansion of the
national parks, and was clearly vindicated by the COP26 decision, which called
on governments globally to end logging
within 10 years. It was clearly vindicated as an important tool in our toolkit
for fighting climate change. We have also announced our native vegetation
policy, which aims to understand what native vegetation we have across the
state and to prioritise rehabilitation where we need to, as well as assist in
offsets and where we can prioritise them.
As
the member mentioned, we have fast-tracked our Plan for Plastics. By 31
December this year, a whole range of single-use plastics will be banned,
and by 31 December 2022, we will move to harder plastics, such as thick plastic
bags and coffee cups. That will reduce millions of tonnes of plastics that go
into our waste stream and our oceans. We are
spending $21 million on implementing the longest network of electric vehicle
charging stations in the country . That
will be outstanding, so people can have confidence that they can travel around Western
Australia in their electric vehicles, be able to charge their cars and
get to their destinations.
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