Page 1041 - Week 04 - Thursday, 22 April 2021
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across Canberra during my term. I recommend that every MLA gets out to visit their local group.
I am pleased that ParkCare and the catchment groups have received much-needed funding through the ACT environment grants program and other funding streams. But we still do not have ongoing recurrent funding. That is really essential. You cannot get staff or plan your project if you do not know when the money will run out. If you have ever done land care, or even grown a garden, you know that you cannot do it one year and give up the next. You need to plant and weed and manage the land and water consistently every single year if you are going to give proper care.
My planning, transport and city services committee recently recommended that the Parks and Conservation Service and Transport Canberra and City Services work more closely together and take ongoing advice from the ParkCare groups to consider how to put in more native plantings in our urban areas and how to make better habitat and reduce the need for mowing. I am really pleased that the government have agreed to this recommendation. Those groups on the ground are doing the work and they know best what resources they need in their local areas.
I am glad to see the expansion of the Ngunnawal ranger program; it is a really important recognition of the value of traditional custodians taking care of country. As we move further into a changed climate and see our environment degrade, it will be more important that we listen to those who understand this land. If we are going to preserve it for future generations, we need to respect the expertise of those who have cared for it for tens of thousands of generations already.
I am pleased that the government is providing ongoing employment for six Ngunnawal ranger positions. They will focus on natural resource management, land, fire, water, wildlife and ecological management. We ACT Greens are hoping that an additional four Ngunnawal rangers will be added next year. We also want to see that their work expands to incorporate cultural land and water management practices like cool cultural burns in the ACT. I was pleased to hear that some trials of cool cultural burns have happened; it will be great to see these developing. Using these practices will give us better habitat and land management, as well as enshrining greater recognition of and respect for the skills and knowledge of First Nations peoples.
We also need to better coordinate our existing resources. We work with whole ecosystems, not silos. Instead of having different agencies and groups working on their patch without communicating, we need a whole-ecosystem approach to our land management. All the organisations involved in working on the land—Parks and Conservation Service rangers, City Services rangers, Landcare ACT, ParkCare and the catchment groups and volunteers—should be helped to work together to protect, maintain and improve. We look forward to seeing this as a priority, with specific funding, in the coming years.
Invasive species and climate change are two of the biggest threats to biodiversity, food security and our livelihoods. We are pleased that implementing better biosecurity invasive species management programs is a key priority in this budget. We would like to see some more targeted education and management programs to address the
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