Fiona Scott (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure today to update the House about the works going on in the Cumberland Conservation Corridor. I represent an electorate in Western Sydney that is under a lot of pressure at the moment. We live with the north-west growth sector and the south-west growth sector: 200,000 people to the north; 200,000 people moving into the south of my electorate. It is wonderful see the member for Hume here today, who also represents a lot of the south-west of Western Sydney. The Cumberland Conservation Corridor is a critically endangered habitat, and it is crucial that we protect as much of this as we can whilst we have the pressure of development going on.

I am pleased to announce that the Australian government will restore and protect approximately 700 hectares of the Cumberland Plain Woodlands through future land covenants, land acquisitions and activities under the Green Army 20 Million Trees Program. One million of those trees will be coming to Western Sydney, and that is fabulous news. But there is a lot more exciting news that I have the privilege to inform the House of today.

Firstly, applications have been opened for grants to plant the beginning of these one million trees to rehabilitate some 400 hectares within the Cumberland Conservation Corridor. Secondly, the first of the 15 Green Army trees are now on the ground. I would like to commend the minister for the work that has gone on here with local Indigenous groups like Murru Mittigar and the Deerubbin land council. Of course, Deerubbin is the native word, or the original word, for the Hawkesbury-Nepean River. Working with these two land councils is really a triple bottom line approach. It is about ensuring the protection of our environment; it is also about providing the range of programs so that the Aboriginal culture can go to a next generation. The third piece is that, when we do look at social disadvantage in Western Sydney, it is our Aboriginal brothers and sisters that have some of the higher unemployment rates, so having training directly designed for Aboriginal people to get into work and also relearn and adopt a lot of the Aboriginal culture is such a crucial program.

Thirdly, the remaining part of the 700 hectares will be placed under the conservation covenants through Commonwealth purchases, and the land will be held in public hands forever. The first of these purchases—nearly six hectares—is of the highest conservation quality woodland in Londonderry. I would like to reflect on the words of the Minister for the Environment:

This land has been virtually untouched for the past 30 years and is in very good condition. Large trees and logs provide habitat for native wildlife, and more than 30 bird species have been identified in the area.

This is great news for Western Sydney; this is great news for our environment. I thank the minister.