Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Pratt for that contribution. I would like to bring the chamber’s attention to some of the matters Senator Brown mentioned before in terms of the additional funding that has been negotiated by the Greens to preserve Australia’s national heritage properties. We are aware that heritage funding has been falling in Australia for 10 or 15 years. In fact, it is potentially a welcome turnabout that we may be able to pass in the next few hours in this place $50 million in additional funding for the protection of Australia’s most precious national heritage places. They are places that are essentially falling into disrepair. They are places that were passed on to us by our parents and grandparents—by our ancestors, indeed. It is an extremely welcome measure that the government has agreed that perhaps not all of the economic stimulus funding would need to be in areas we might more traditionally associate with the construction industry. In fact, there is an entire area of the economy that would be stimulated by looking after these heritage places that have been protected and left to us by our parents and our grandparents and which we are passing on to our children and grandchildren.

What we are looking at doing here is funding the urgent maintenance and conservation of up to 250 properties held by the National Trust and other properties that could be put forward by other organisations or groups, and creating green jobs, largely in rural areas, where many of these properties are allocated. This not only boosts the economy and boosts spending but also provides a lasting benefit. This is not something that will be over and done with and forgotten about in the next week; this is something that we are passing on to the generations that come after us.

There are many properties that the National Trust has on its endangered list, as well as properties it has on its books in general, that require and would greatly benefit from the sort of funding that we are looking at providing here. There are jobs in the construction industry, obviously, but we would also be looking at electricians, plumbers and specialist conservators. There is not a great deal of work around for some of the people—carpenters and so on—who would be engaged in protecting and restoring some of these places.

And what potentially would be on the list? I am sure that we all have places in our home states and territories that would be very deserving and worthy of this injection of funding over the next couple of years. There are buildings and properties listed on the natural heritage list, but there are also community heritage projects around the country that are not necessarily coming through the National Trust—these could be put up by any community group with an interest in protecting or preserving one of their special places—as well as natural heritage projects, including walking trails and upgrades of public spaces. It has been estimated, and I think one of the other senators has pointed this out, that somewhere in the range of 800 new jobs will be created at a substantial discount on the raw numbers that were provided by the government as to how much benefit you get for the money that we are spending. This is extremely good value and we know this should be seen as nothing more than a down payment on the protection of Australia’s heritage; in fact, this is really just the beginning.

I certainly welcome the passage of the bills. We have spoken at quite some length on the housing and schools side of the construction package, but certainly getting some genuine protection for Australia’s precious heritage places is something that people around the country will really welcome. It is an area that we have substantially neglected over a very long period of time and it is about time that that was addressed.