❓ The Minister for Environment responds to a question regarding the Cook Labor government's Plan for Our Parks initiative, highlighting progress, benefits to the environment and regional communities, and job creation through the Aboriginal ranger program.
AnsweredQoN 468Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
PLAN FOR OUR PARKS
468. Ms D.G. D'ANNA to the Minister for Environment:
I refer to the Cook Labor government's
Plan for Our Parks initiative, which will add five million hectares of land and
sea to WA's conservation estate.
(1) Can the minister update the
house on the delivery of this initiative?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house how this program is delivering benefits for both the
environment and regional and remote communities across WA?
468. Ms D.G. D'ANNA to the Minister for Environment:
I refer to the Cook Labor government's
Plan for Our Parks initiative, which will add five million hectares of land and
sea to WA's conservation estate.
(1) Can the minister update the
house on the delivery of this initiative?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house how this program is delivering benefits for both the
environment and regional and remote communities across WA?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I
thank the member for Kimberley for her great advocacy, because she knows the
value of not just protecting the environment, but also providing support and
inspiration to remote communities and the economic consequences and other
positive things that flow from that. I thank her for her question. In her
electorate, we have secured an additional 871 000 hectares of land and sea
across the Kimberley alone. I thank her for her efforts in helping us get
there.
Last
week was a busy week with the final stage of the creation of a suite of new
national parks along the Fitzroy River. Back in 2017, this incoming
Labor government committed to protect this beautiful part of the world. That
commitment is now set in stone—done, delivered. It has happened. It is
a reflection of this government's shared journey with traditional
owners to protect an area of immense cultural and environmental significance.
The Fitzroy is the world's most pristine free-flowing river system. As
the member for Kimberley knows, it supports
an amazing array of wildlife, including the critically endangered freshwater sawfish, which is found nowhere else on the planet. A sawfish in a river
in Western Australia is found nowhere else! It is endangered. This is critical
to helping support that endangered species. The member for Kimberley knows
about the environmental value of this area. She knows about not only the
heritage and cultural significance to traditional owners, but also the fact
that all Western Australians value this very unique and special place.
Going to the member's
question—she asked how we are going—I am pleased to advise that
as of today, more than four million hectares
of conservation estate has been created under the Cook Labor government's Plan for Our Parks. We are at four million, folks! Five million is the target.
We will get there this year. We have hit four million, which is a big
milestone. This government is doing a lot of good things. This will be one of
the big legacies we gift and bestow to the future of all Western Australians; from
now in perpetuity this land and sea will be
in the conservation estate and will be protected for all time. It is a critical
issue to deliver. It reflects a creation of 17 new and expanded national marine
parks. I was up in the Gascoyne, also last
week, where we have secured 1.5 million hectares of new parks, including Mt Augustus in an area 816 000 hectares, four times the size of the Australian Capital
Territory.
Mr P.J. Rundle : What about
Marmion Marine Park?
Mr R.R. WHITBY : I am happy to
get to that, member for Roe.
Mr P.J. Rundle interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please!
Mr R.R. WHITBY : Speaker, you
might have to indulge me for more time here, because I am happy to go through
that, and happy to explain the member's reprehensible behaviour.
Mt Augustus is a rock that is one
and a half times the size of Uluru. Would you believe it? That is amazing.
These are special places that need special protection. It is not just about the
environment; it is also about jobs and economic growth. We have created 250 jobs
under the Aboriginal ranger program. I was up in Burringurrah, which is a remote
Aboriginal community in the Gascoyne with a beautiful little school. It is well
maintained. We were celebrating the creation
of Mt Augustus National Park. All the schoolkids were there. We were signing
our certificates and one of them came up to me. I think he was in high
school, maybe 14 or 15 years old. He tapped me on the shoulder and asked, ''When
I grow up, can I be an Aboriginal ranger?'' Aboriginal rangers walk
10-feet tall in these communities. They are about protecting community and
country. It is an amazing and very special role that is inspiring to those
communities and kids who want to work and put that uniform on and be part of
protecting the environment and country that they hold close to their heart. It
also provides economic advantages and opportunities for Aboriginal
entrepreneurship and tourism. We talk a lot about tourism and opening up our
national parks to opportunities for tourism as well.
This a good story, members. It is
one that we can celebrate. We will get to five million hectares this year. It
is evidence that our Plan for Our Parks initiative is a milestone. It is a huge
legacy for Western Australia. It is good for the environment, it is good for
jobs and it is good for regional and remote communities.
thank the member for Kimberley for her great advocacy, because she knows the
value of not just protecting the environment, but also providing support and
inspiration to remote communities and the economic consequences and other
positive things that flow from that. I thank her for her question. In her
electorate, we have secured an additional 871 000 hectares of land and sea
across the Kimberley alone. I thank her for her efforts in helping us get
there.
Last
week was a busy week with the final stage of the creation of a suite of new
national parks along the Fitzroy River. Back in 2017, this incoming
Labor government committed to protect this beautiful part of the world. That
commitment is now set in stone—done, delivered. It has happened. It is
a reflection of this government's shared journey with traditional
owners to protect an area of immense cultural and environmental significance.
The Fitzroy is the world's most pristine free-flowing river system. As
the member for Kimberley knows, it supports
an amazing array of wildlife, including the critically endangered freshwater sawfish, which is found nowhere else on the planet. A sawfish in a river
in Western Australia is found nowhere else! It is endangered. This is critical
to helping support that endangered species. The member for Kimberley knows
about the environmental value of this area. She knows about not only the
heritage and cultural significance to traditional owners, but also the fact
that all Western Australians value this very unique and special place.
Going to the member's
question—she asked how we are going—I am pleased to advise that
as of today, more than four million hectares
of conservation estate has been created under the Cook Labor government's Plan for Our Parks. We are at four million, folks! Five million is the target.
We will get there this year. We have hit four million, which is a big
milestone. This government is doing a lot of good things. This will be one of
the big legacies we gift and bestow to the future of all Western Australians; from
now in perpetuity this land and sea will be
in the conservation estate and will be protected for all time. It is a critical
issue to deliver. It reflects a creation of 17 new and expanded national marine
parks. I was up in the Gascoyne, also last
week, where we have secured 1.5 million hectares of new parks, including Mt Augustus in an area 816 000 hectares, four times the size of the Australian Capital
Territory.
Mr P.J. Rundle : What about
Marmion Marine Park?
Mr R.R. WHITBY : I am happy to
get to that, member for Roe.
Mr P.J. Rundle interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please!
Mr R.R. WHITBY : Speaker, you
might have to indulge me for more time here, because I am happy to go through
that, and happy to explain the member's reprehensible behaviour.
Mt Augustus is a rock that is one
and a half times the size of Uluru. Would you believe it? That is amazing.
These are special places that need special protection. It is not just about the
environment; it is also about jobs and economic growth. We have created 250 jobs
under the Aboriginal ranger program. I was up in Burringurrah, which is a remote
Aboriginal community in the Gascoyne with a beautiful little school. It is well
maintained. We were celebrating the creation
of Mt Augustus National Park. All the schoolkids were there. We were signing
our certificates and one of them came up to me. I think he was in high
school, maybe 14 or 15 years old. He tapped me on the shoulder and asked, ''When
I grow up, can I be an Aboriginal ranger?'' Aboriginal rangers walk
10-feet tall in these communities. They are about protecting community and
country. It is an amazing and very special role that is inspiring to those
communities and kids who want to work and put that uniform on and be part of
protecting the environment and country that they hold close to their heart. It
also provides economic advantages and opportunities for Aboriginal
entrepreneurship and tourism. We talk a lot about tourism and opening up our
national parks to opportunities for tourism as well.
This a good story, members. It is
one that we can celebrate. We will get to five million hectares this year. It
is evidence that our Plan for Our Parks initiative is a milestone. It is a huge
legacy for Western Australia. It is good for the environment, it is good for
jobs and it is good for regional and remote communities.
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