Page 3417 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 11 October 1994
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I do not think that the work that the rangers do in caring for Namadgi and the Canberra Nature Park, and educating the community, can be overstated. When we talk about the importance of the Canberra Nature Park and Namadgi National Park for the concept of the bush capital, we can take that a bit further and say that not only is it important now; those things remain very valuable and very important for our future. When we talk about our future, we talk about our young people; and when we talk about the young people, we must keep in mind the education process that they require - as does, I might add, a lot of our older community, as well - to understand what we do have on our hands; how we do value it, how we do regard it as part of our community, and how we can continue that valuation into the future. When I say that, we must remember the role that the ranger service plays in ensuring that all of our community, both young and old, are educated well and fairly in understanding and valuing that resource. The educational aspects, I believe, cannot be overstated.
Namadgi, of course, is a great resource for the people of Tuggeranong. I say that as a resident of the area, really valuing very much the fact that within a very short distance not only Canberra but the Tuggeranong Valley have a wonderful natural resource sitting at their doorstep. It is basically the Tuggeranong backyard. It provides for bushwalking; the possibility of camping in places such as the Orroral Valley area; the ability to go out and see, in that sort of setting, the Aboriginal sites that are there; and the possibility in the future of ecotourism. Tourism is something that all governments and all interested people in the world, let alone in Australia, are thinking about today. When we think about ecotourism we must seriously look at Namadgi and look at Canberra, and see how we can benefit - not use, rape and pillage our natural resources, but use them properly and use them respectfully.
Mr Stefaniak made a point earlier about the time it took for a four-wheel drive operator to gain a licence to enter Namadgi National Park. Whilst I understand that the man in question may have had an investment and wished very much to get his business off the ground, there is no way that I would like to see that process any faster than it needs to be, because if we allow too many of those sorts of vehicles into these areas there will be nothing left to look at. I say that very seriously. There is no way that I do not believe that ecotourism should allow that sort of access; it should. We should be able to access it, see it properly and use it carefully; but we have a responsibility when we do that. Seeing that we are basically surrounded by the Canberra Nature Park no matter where we stand in this Territory, and particularly, as I said earlier, when we go to Tuggeranong and see the Namadgi National Park sitting there, that responsibility brings with it a great deal of work and a great deal of consideration to everybody within the community, both inside and outside the Government. Nothing would make me happier than to see more people able to access and experience those sorts of valuable resources, but we must do it carefully and responsibly.
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