Page 2782 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 29 June 2010
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not resources allocated are growing in response to identified needs and our expanding reserve system. The concerns of many who care about our parks and reserves is that resourcing is barely keeping up and that those who look after our parks, paid staff and the many park care volunteers around the ACT, are struggling to meet the challenges of feral animals and plants, erosion and habitat protection.
For me at least, this came through very strongly when I attended one of the public sessions of the commissioner for the environment’s current inquiry into the state of Canberra nature parks. I think the theme that came through was—and there were a lot of people in the room who were very passionate about the nature parks—a real sense of frustration and a real sense of despair at the state of the parks and some of the gaps in resourcing.
I think in terms of the challenges that our parks face, the challenges are not going away. It is likely that we will add to our reserve areas, hopefully through additions such as the central Molonglo valley. But we know that the African lovegrass, the rabbits, the willows and the wasps do not take a holiday. Protecting our natural areas is an ongoing challenge from which we will not even really be able to rest. And as we add to our reserve system, we must continue to add the resources required to maintain them in good order, to protect biodiversity in habitats but also to make them places that we can enjoy. The truth is that parks do not look after themselves and, the closer they are to urban areas such as in Canberra, the more prone to threats they are. And many of those threats come from us human beings.
I would like to take this opportunity to pay homage to the work that is undertaken by park care groups in the ACT, particularly in light of this budget debate, because there is no doubt that park care groups have a great capacity to assist the government in their management of reserves. There are 17 active park care groups in the ACT—12 in the Canberra nature park, four in the rural regions of the ACT and one at the Watson woodlands. In 2008 and 2009 they contributed upwards of 10,000 hours of time towards our parks and reserves. Considering the return, the government invests a very small amount into the park care groups, around $65,000 per year, which includes salaries and operational costs such as tools and equipment and support from rangers.
In terms of this year’s budget, the Greens welcome additional funding for the Jerrabomberra wetlands, Mount Taylor and Mulligans Flat, which we understand were prioritised for new funding as a result of internal discussions at PCL. There is no doubt that Jerrabomberra was in need of some care and, having been out there, I am all too aware of the willows and the blackberries clogging up the creek. I know that there is much to do at Jerrabomberra and, while it cannot all happen at the same time, it was well beyond time to get started. This is a welcome start. Hopefully the renewed focus on the wetland as a result of the East Lake development will drive its renewal over the next few years because the wetland is a precious natural asset right in the heart of our city.
It is hard sometimes to understand, aside from new measures, where funding in PCL is allocated on an annual basis. I now understand that the detailed prioritisation happens after the money is allocated inside the department and as a result of feedback
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