Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I recently had the pleasure of working in partnership with the Australian Conservation Foundation to hold a threatened species evening. We were joined by Dr Martin Taylor, protected areas and conservation science manager for WWF Australia; Jo-Anne Bragg, CEO of the Environmental Defender's Office Queensland; Jess Abrahams, a nature campaigner with ACF; and Judith Hoyle, a volunteer from BirdLife Australia. The event was well attended by locals who engaged the panel in a discussion on policy and strategies to better protect our threatened species. Our community is lucky to have many natural waterways and bushlands where native species thrive, and it was great to hear from a range of local residents about their ideas for how we can do more to protect our local fauna and flora.

One such area is Springfield environmental corridor, which is home to two species of platypus alongside koalas, birds and native frogs. I have previously spoken in this place on the importance of the corridor, which sits adjacent to Woodcrest State College between the Centenary Motorway. It's equal in size to 10 Suncorp Stadium precincts, and is currently owned by the Department of Defence. The Springfield community has been loud and clear that this land should be handed over to the local community. My thanks to Andrew Picone and Jess Abrahams from the ACF who attended the forum. I look forward to working alongside the ACF to strengthen environmental laws and to see more of our threatened species with the protection they need and deserve.

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