Russell Matheson (Macarthur, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Macquarie. I can see, from what she had said in this chamber today, that she is very passionate about her community. I also acknowledge and commend the shadow minister for climate action, environment and heritage. Both have an ongoing commitment to preserving the natural ecological communities of Greater Western Sydney.

I am very pleased to have this opportunity to speak on the motion on the Greater Western Sydney conservation corridor. For too long we have seen these beautiful natural habitats destroyed by overdevelopment, encroachment by agriculture, pests and inaction by government. If the government does not take action now this part of Australia's environmental heritage will be lost forever. The coalition has a strong commitment to ensuring that our natural environment is preserved for future generations in the form of an environmental legacy. In the 2010 federal election campaign, the coalition pledged $15 million to establish the Greater Western Sydney conservation corridor. This was publicly described by the Western Sydney Conservation Alliance as the greatest commitment of all parties. This is not a tin-pot agency coming out and making just any statement. The alliance are saying that the coalition's policy is the best policy of all the parties.

In the Macarthur region, indeed in the Greater Western Sydney area, the Cumberland Plain Woodlands ecological community, including many endangered flora and fauna species, is considered by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 to be critically endangered. That is why it is fantastic to see the member for Macquarie standing up for her community. Prior to European settlement, the Cumberland Plain Woodlands covered over 125,000 hectares across Western Sydney, stretching from the Hawkesbury region down through Holsworthy, Campbelltown and the greater Macarthur region. Today, less than 10 per cent of the original woodland remains and of this only 30 hectares lie within the National Parks and Wildlife Service protected areas. It is a crying shame.

The Cumberland Plain Woodlands have been devastated by development, agriculture and pests. The remaining ecological community exists only in small patches, adding further pressure to the woodlands. The federal government needs to act now to protect the Cumberland Plain Woodlands. The protection of this critically endangered habitat was an election promise made by all sides of politics but it seems that this promise is going to be left by the wayside.

The Sydney growth centres strategic assessment report proposes to allow another 1,187 hectares of this endangered habitat to be entirely cleared—that is a disgrace—to make way for the north-west and south-west growth centres. This amount totals about 11 per cent of what remains of these woodlands. It is imperative that we protect these woodlands by, firstly, implementing the coalition's policy to protect Western Sydney's Cumberland Plain Woodlands and endangered flora and fauna species by establishing the Greater Western Sydney conservation corridor linking nature reserves and identified priority lands within the Greater Western Sydney region.

As the member for Macquarie stated, this motion alerts the people of Greater Western Sydney and south-western Sydney to the Labor government's failure to act to protect the Cumberland Plain Woodlands and endangered flora and fauna species while allowing continued development in the Greater Western and south-western Sydney areas. In my electorate alone, the population is going to double to 500,000 people. In the Camden local government area, the population is going to grow by 330 per cent. All of the trees are being cleared for a corridor from Greater Western Sydney to south-western Sydney.

It is a mind-boggling result of the government's inaction over the past few years. We need the government to act now and protect the Cumberland Plain Woodlands in Greater Western and south-western Sydney so that the children and families in these growing areas can appreciate what great lands they are.

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