Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today here to quickly talk about the coalition's Green Army policy, a policy that brings together the largest standing environmental workforce in Australia's history. It will see the biggest deployment of personnel for environmental restoration that Australia has ever seen. This policy will deliver real environmental and community benefits to the Petrie electorate. I am looking forward to seeing these Green Army projects rolled out after 1 July this year. The projects, as we know, will restore riverbanks and creek beds, revegetate mangrove habitats and carry out other environmental conservation remediation works. There are 250 Green Army projects throughout the country, and I will briefly talk about three in my electorate now.

The first project is at the North Lakes Reserve, a 110-hectare site. I would like to thank the Mango Hill and North Lakes Environment Group for working on this project with me to develop this project for the people of North Lakes. The project will ensure that noxious weeds and trees are removed and native trees and vegetation are replanted to provide an environment for local animals, including koalas, kangaroos and birds that live in the area. It will also ensure that the local creek and the freshwater habitat there are cleaned up. The creek will be restocked with native fish that will help with mosquitoes and things there as well. So there are real, practical environmental benefits.

The second project is at Osprey House at Griffin, and I would like to thank the staff and volunteers at Osprey House for helping to plan this project with me. The third project is at Hays Inlet along the saltwater creek. The Redcliffe Environmental Forum have put in a lot of work with me on that project, and I am keen to see that kick off the ground there as well.

I would like to thank the Minister for the Environment, the Hon. Greg Hunt, for coming out and visiting these projects with me. They will certainly make a big difference to the Petrie electorate. These projects will ensure that local jobs are created. They all run for about six months, and most of the people working on these jobs will be aged between 17 and 24. The projects will provide these young adults with the opportunity to learn some life skills that they can transfer to other jobs once these projects are completed. Finally, these Green Army projects are part of our Direct Action Plan, along with our one million solar homes project, which I hope to roll out through the Petrie electorate as well.