Page 3416 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 11 October 1994
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that were used for droving cattle and brumby running and the numerous other lifestyles and practices. In recognition of its natural and cultural values, Namadgi has been entered on the Register of the National Estate and it is currently nominated to be included on the interim ACT Heritage Places Register.
It is not only Namadgi. As Bill Stefaniak went on to say, there are many parts of Canberra. He, Wayne Berry and I are very much involved in wanting to get wetlands up and running in the area that we represent, which is Ginninderra. I know that the Speaker is very involved in this too. It is one lake we have that does not suffer from blue-green algae, and we want to protect that as well. I was amazed at how many people were so interested in it and came along to the meeting, and want to come along to the next meeting. The Minister and I went to the Jerrabomberra Wetlands. I was quite amazed, when the Minister brought down the report on that area, at how many people turned up at that and were interested. I even collected quite a few more people who live in the area of Ginninderra and who would like to be involved in the Ginninderra wetlands area. People in Canberra love what they have and want to keep it as the bush capital. All members should realise that one of the things that everybody in Australia and its visitors remember about Canberra is that it is the only bush capital, and we must keep it in that most beautiful way.
MS ELLIS (4.02): I want to join this debate and to make a few brief comments. From the urban point of view in relation to the Canberra Nature Park, we have a wonderful amenity around us; but we also have fantastic input from the community through the Park Care groups and so on. It gives the community a very hands-on appreciation and a very hands-on role in relation to the responsibility that we all have in caring for this bush capital and understanding what exactly it is that we have living around us and the sort of involvement that we as a community can have.
The other aspect of this MPI which I think is really worth reflecting on quite carefully is the Namadgi National Park. The reason I say that is that there are certain relevant statistics that I think are terribly important and really place the ACT and Namadgi separate from a lot of other areas which may believe that they are equal. For instance, Namadgi National Park is, I think I am correct in saying, just on or just over 50 per cent of this Territory. I know that in terms of size, in square mileage or square kilometre measurement, this Territory does not quite rank with a lot of other places; but there are not very many places in this world that can boast of 50 per cent of their territory or their area being enclosed in such a wonderful environment.
We also need to acknowledge the existence of the wilderness areas within Namadgi. There are some areas that have been included. I think that in the last review of the borders of Namadgi there were some very exclusive wilderness areas proclaimed and included for the first time, and wilderness of great importance in terms of the world environment. I think it is very relevant for our community to appreciate, when we talk about these wilderness areas, their proximity to urban living, and how important and valuable that is, how fortunate this community is to have that sort of area with those sorts of wilderness enclosures in such close proximity to urban areas, and how careful and how responsible we must be to those areas.
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