Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks, Senator Pocock. It's nice to get a question about the environment, so thank you for asking the question. The Albanese government has committed substantial funding over the last four years towards the preservation of our native species. When we think about how Australia is thought about internationally, of course, very often, when people think of Australia, they think of those unique native species that we have here, whether it be kangaroos, koalas, a range of reptiles, mammals, fish et cetera. It's not only for that reason, of course, that we believe in supporting the preservation and recovery of these species, and it is exactly why we went to the 2022 election with a new funding program around saving native species. I've actually had the privilege of meeting some of the people who have played a really big role in captive breeding programs and other programs that we've been funding to aid the recovery of critically endangered species. It wasn't that long ago that I was at Melbourne Zoo, for example, seeing the good work around the recovery of the Lord Howe Island stick insect and the Victorian grassland earless dragon, just to name a couple of species whose recovery is being supported through the funding provided by our government.

Now we are of course at that point in the budget cycle where a range of groups are making a range of asks regarding funding for existing and new programs. I think this week alone I've had about seven different groups in my office asking for different funding for different kinds of programs, and we'll weigh all those requests up as we make these sorts of considerations during the budget. But whether it be through that program or through the historic environmental law reforms that this parliament passed last year, the Albanese government's record in protecting our native species is second to none.