Page 1362 - Week 05 - Thursday, 18 June 2020
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Government requires more than just headlines. It requires knowing the community in which we live. Mr Coe clearly does not know that 50 per cent of Canberrans already live within 500 metres of nature reserves, with 25 per cent living within 100 metres of their nature reserve. Through hard work and good planning we have the Canberra Nature Park, a network of 38 nature reserves covering approximately 11,000 hectares. This is in addition to the wonderful parks and playgrounds that we have in our urban environment.
Canberra Nature Park is, of course, very important, as it is home to the rich ecosystems providing habitat for many species of regional and national conservation significance. It protects the largest surviving areas nationally of critically endangered yellow box-Blakely’s red gum grassy woodland and important remnants of natural temperate grassland. I fear that these loved nature reserves are under threat under the policy announced by the Liberals.
On World Environment Day Mr Coe was quoted in the media talking about the benefits and simplicity of grass. No doubt Mr Coe loves the African lovegrass that can plague my electorate of Brindabella. These reserves are grasslands. As I said, they are home to some of the last remaining woodlands and grasslands in this part of Australia. Protecting the environment does not come about by planting more grass and trees. It is more complicated. Sadly, this policy shows that the Canberra Liberals truly have a minister against the environment.
I am proud of the efforts that we have made in planning to make and improve our environment, both in the urban and the non-urban areas. As the amendment from Minister Steel notes, we are planting half a million trees in Ingledene Forest, delivering new recreational opportunities for Canberrans while helping sequester carbon. Over the past two years the ACT NRM has tackled weed on 400 hectares of land and planted around 17,000 trees. Our efforts to improve the environment have also seen an additional 1,156 hectares of woodland added to nature reserves and parks since 2004. These are just some of the many efforts we are making to protect and enhance our natural environment.
I thank the hardworking staff across government, particularly city services and our parks and conservation service, who have achieved remarkable outcomes. They have done so, of course, with the help of volunteers. These include our ParkCare and catchment groups, with more than 800 volunteers in ParkCare who contributed 30,200 hours of their time towards protecting and conserving ACT parks and reserves. The volunteer program includes work with local schools and youth workers to develop virtual reality tours of reserves for the disability sector as well.
These are just some of the highlights. I could go on, but in the interests of time I conclude by commending Minister Steel’s thoughtful amendment to the Assembly. This issue is more complicated than the opposition believe.
MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (4.00): I am pleased to stand today and talk about trees, which is something we have discussed on a few occasions in this Assembly. It is good to remember the significance of the bush capital. It is something that those of us who
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video