Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I recently attended a women's environmental breakfast in Adelaide, which was hosted by Bush Heritage Australia. I was joined by my parliamentary colleague Senator Barbara Pocock and also by Deputy Premier Susan Close, who is a keen, keen warrior for all things to protect the South Australian environment. She also fights desperately hard for the Murray River and to ensure that all of the communities along the river—from agriculture to the communities who live on the river—can actually survive and thrive by having a healthy river.

At this breakfast I felt a great sense of hope. Around the room there were a range of women from corporate sustainability environments. There were change-makers, innovators, businesswomen, farmers—you name it, they were all in the room—and they were totally inspiring. I had the great pleasure of talking to them and getting their feedback on the recently announced plan to reserve 30 per cent of the country's land and oceans for conservation by 2030, which is intended to improve and protect our biodiversity.

I was delighted by the response we got; people were very keen. They had excellent ideas on how this kind of measure was going to genuinely make a difference. These are the women who are out on the land across South Australia, and they are the best people to determine how to protect the land, because they know it and they live it. They were delighted that, after nine long years of neglect and funding cuts and rorts in the environment sector, there was finally a government that was going to make a difference.