Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the House for the courtesy of allowing me to continue my remarks on the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Green Army Programme) Bill 2014. I will give some background on the environmental issues in my electorate of Swan and share where I think the Green Army Program can be beneficial and complement work planned for the electorate by the Liberal state and federal governments. The electorate is bound by rivers on three sides. It contains an extensive wetlands area in the south and contains lakes and swamps in the east. The aquatic surrounds and general environment of the electorate of Swan is a great asset for local residents, who can enjoy rivers, lakes and wildlife in the middle of urban Perth. But these ecosystems have to be maintained, and past actions have created problems which need to be addressed.

Some of these issues are big issues which require significant expenditure and remediation. Take, for example, the spread of the aquatic weed species hydrocotyl in the Canning River Regional Park. There are many types of invasive weeds that need to be managed in the park. There are ongoing projects being undertaken by groups such as the Canning River Regional Park Volunteers, which involve clearing areas of weeds and planting new vegetation in their place. But this hydrocotyl weed is of particular concern due to its extraordinarily high growth rate and the significant resources required to combat it. According to SERCUL Canning River restoration officer Matt Grimbly, hydrocotyl can double its biomass in a period of three days to a week. So, if left unchecked, it can grow right across a water body very quickly. Once it covers the water body, it blocks out sunlight and reduces oxygen levels in the water, making it very difficult for aquatic animals and other plants to survive. The hydrocotyl has been a problem in the Canning River for some time. As Mr Grimbly stated in the Canning Times newspaper on 4 February 2014, the weed, which is native to South America and probably introduced through the pet fish industry, has been in the river since the 1980s and caused a particularly severe problem in the summer of 1992.

I regret to inform the House that this year has been another high growth year for the hydrocotyl. This high growth rate has been noticed by the local environmental groups, which include the Wilson Wetlands Action Group, the Canning River Regional Park Volunteers and SERCUL, as well as by recreational users of the river, such as the Canning River Canoe Club. SERCUL and the Wilson Wetlands Action Group have received some funding from the State Natural Resource Management Program to stop the weed from spreading, but a Swan River Trust report estimates that the mass of weeds weighs in at 2,000 tonnes and will cost $1.2 million to eradicate. The sort of eradication that is required is clearly beyond the means of the local voluntary groups and requires some deeper funding from the federal government. That is why I have at the last two elections put forward, on behalf of the Liberal Party and in consultation with local groups, a $1 million commitment to the Canning River, of which a significant amount will be targeted at the hydrocotyl issue. This is a unique commitment for the Swan electorate, which I am proud to have been able to secure. It was a great moment to see it in the budget papers last night, and I look forward to being part of the process of seeing it delivered for the benefit of the river.

There are other challenges that are being addressed by the state Liberal-Nationals government. A good example of this is the $2.4 million being invested by the Liberal-Nationals government in an oxygenation plant at Langford in my electorate of Swan to reduce the impact of algal blooms and to prevent fish kills. And, on Friday, the WA state government announced a $4.8 million investment to rebuild the Kent Street Weir, which controls the movement of brackish water in the Canning River. The re-establishment of the well-used walkway over the weir will also be included in the works. And then there is the challenge of stabilising the Burswood river land, which has been used as a rubbish dump for many years. The Barnett government has just completed extensive geotechnical works ahead of schedule to prepare the site for a stadium and landscaping precinct. So these are works that require federal government intervention and are certainly beyond the capacity of local groups. An interesting part about the work being done on the stadium at Burswood and something that those on the other side might not be used to is the fact that it is six weeks ahead of schedule.

But, in and around these big issues, there are many problems that can be addressed on a local scale by local action groups on the ground, and this is where the Green Army comes in. Clearing land of weeds and revegetating it with native plants is a common activity of groups, and it gets results. The Prime Minister himself has helped contribute to this effort in my electorate when he got stuck into clearing weeds at Ferndale, with me and a group of volunteers. The result of the work is a safer wetlands environment, with a lower fire risk from the removal of weeds and grasses, more biodiversity, less damaging nutrients in the river, and a more pleasant environment to enjoy.

Since I have been the member for Swan, I have seen the great progress of these activities in areas such as Garvey Park in Redcliffe, Ferndale and Wilson. But, with the large areas of river frontage in the electorate of Swan, there is a need for more action, and the Green Army can spur this on. I am greatly encouraged by the interest already shown in the federal electorate of Swan by prospective project sponsors. The Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council, or EMRC, has applied to the Department of the Environment to be a project sponsor, with the hope of delivering at least two projects in the electorate of Swan—one at Garvey Park in Redcliffe and the other at Tomato Lake in Kewdale. These are two project sites that I proposed at the 2010 federal election for the Green Army Program. Having undertaken a site visit to Garvey Park, where I received a briefing on the riverbank restoration works, I can say there is certainly scope to extend the work via a Green Army project. And there are certainly important works at Tomato Lake—an iconic part of Kewdale and Perth and probably a hidden secret to many people who are not from that area.

There has also been some interest expressed by Perth Airport, which manages a large conservation estate on behalf of the Commonwealth. Many might not be aware when they fly into Perth that there are sensitive wetlands around the Perth Airport site, which Senator Birmingham and I inspected earlier in the year. So my electorate, perhaps more than any other, has the opportunity to benefit from the Green Army legislation, and I look forward to working with the local environmental groups in my electorate of Swan to hopefully maximise the opportunities of this legislation.

The coalition's Green Army Program will encourage hands-on, practical, grassroots environmental action as a means of fixing environmental problems as well as tapping into the knowledge of local communities and encouraging them to identify and fix their own local problems. I say 'hands-on'—and when we say 'hands-on', we mean it. As I said before, the Prime Minister has been down to Ferndale, in the Canning wetlands in my electorate of Swan, getting stuck into helping with weeding in the area, demonstrating his commitment and the commitment of the Liberal Party to practical environmental action. I see the member for Lingiari in the House. I am sure he has often gone down to help out his local community groups with weeding in environmental areas. I am sure he would be able to assure me of that.

I have been a Liberal candidate for the seat of Swan three times and I have been fortunate enough to be elected three times. In those three elections, the Labor Party and the Greens have not put forward a single policy to improve the local environment through environmental action on the ground in the electorate of Swan—not one single policy. In contrast, I am proud to have taken proposals to two consecutive elections for a $1 million environmental program for the Canning River—a program that was put together in consultation with the environmental groups in the Canning wetlands. So it does not surprise me to hear that the Greens are opposing this legislation for the Green Army corps. I think this demonstrates once and for all that the Labor Party and the Greens are not the parties of conservation in Australia.

The Green Army Program is primarily an environmental program; that is its primary goal and it will be judged on the results that it gets. As the minister outlined in his speech, it will bring 15,000 people together, the largest environmental workforce in Australia's history, to provide real and practical solutions to cleaning up riverbanks and creek beds, and revegetating sand dunes and mangrove habitats among other environmental conservation remedial work. It will commence from July 2014 with the rollout of 250 projects in 2014-15. There are three key components to the program. Service providers will be contracted by the Australian government to engage the Green Army teams, deliver training and wage payments, manage activities to ensure projects are completed and report regularly on their progress.

The Green Army Program is a benchmark of the Liberal-National coalition government's commitment to the environment. I am pleased that we were able to provide funding to local areas in my electorate. I commend the bill to the House.

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