Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Green Army Programme) Bill 2014. There should be no surprise that this legislation is before the House today, because we have been promising the Green Army for years now. Now that we are the government, we are making good on our policy commitment.

What is this initiative all about? What benefits will it bring? Given the rising youth unemployment that has been a legacy of recent years, there is no doubt that there is a place for a program that is designed to provide employment opportunities for young Australians aged 17 to 24. This program can help young people gain training and experience in the environmental field. They can also gain a better understanding of heritage and conservation matters. This is the sort of work that enables young people to look at careers in conservation management, while also working on projects that generate real benefits for—and real visual change in—the Australian environment.

Just this morning I was reading in the newspaper about a young man who could not get a job because of a lack of transport and a lack of experience. In my electorate of Cowan, there are many opportunities for Green Army projects to be taken up by service providers and project sponsors. When I look around the 180 square kilometres of Cowan, it is easy to see the potential—places like Warwick bushland, Koondoola bushland, or the lakes of Cowan, such as Lake Goollelal in Kingsley, Lake Joondalup or even Emu Lake in Ballajura. There are extensive bushland tracts throughout the electorate and, because there are many, they are not hard to get to as the public transport is pretty good. It is therefore easy to see the opportunities that the Green Army will provide—not only opportunities for young people but also opportunities to achieve great environmental results. I therefore encourage the cities of Joondalup, Wanneroo and Swan to look at the opportunities to look after their young people and achieve benefits for the environment.

The concept of this program is that the Green Army will be made up of teams of 10 people: one supervisor and up to nine participants. These teams will be deployed to help communities deliver local conservation outcomes. The great thing about the program is that each project will be guided by local community needs. It really is local action, and through that local action the projects will contribute to Australia's environmental priorities and obligations.

The program will support 250 projects in 2014-15, then 500 projects in the following year and 750 projects in 2016-17. This is a long-term, ongoing program. Beyond the $300 million to cover these first three years, there will be more funding in the future.

From here, the request for tender will soon be available. Following the tender process, contractors can be engaged. They will then engage teams and manage activities to ensure projects are completed and will report regularly on progress.

Next there will be the need for project sponsors. This is where we will see local input into the proposal and development of local projects. Again, by way of example I can see the City of Wanneroo coming up with projects around such places as Lake Gnangara. The Friends of Yellagonga Regional Park could also propose work around Lake Goollelal, and the same with the Friends of Warwick Bushland. I also think about the opportunities for the Koondoola bushland, an area severely burnt out in a bushfire a couple of years ago.

When I think of the friends groups around the Cowan electorate, I particularly think of dedicated volunteers achieving very good results with minimal assistance from all levels of government. Every month or so they have their work days, which target particular problems or areas that are in need of remediation. These work days include a focus on places such as Frog Hollow, Duck Landing, or even Hocking Road. From this sort of position, I know that the Friends of Yellagonga are literally the experts and their excellent local knowledge will be needed. Therefore, I encourage their input. Perhaps they may even seek a supervisor position or two. They would be employed by the service providers.

Regardless of whether they decide to take up the opportunity or not, I would like to thank the Friends of Yellagonga for their environmental work to date. In particular, I would like to thank their committee: the chair, Kevin McLeod; vice chair, Marian Napier-Winch; treasurer, John Stenton; secretary, Heather Chester; the volunteers coordinator, Graham Sinclair; and general committee members John Chester, Sue Walker, David Taggart, Will Carstairs and Rebekkah Lamont.

I encourage the friends groups and the local governments to start working on proposals that they would like to see undertaken in their areas. Proposals will be assessed and recommended to the Minister for the Environment for approval.

I have certainly seen what benefits will flow to the environment in Cowan and what advantages can be gained for local sponsors; however, this is mostly about the opportunities for young people. Those young people aged between 17 and 24 years will be the participants. They could be school leavers, gap year students, graduates, the unemployed or even people with disabilities.

What this specifically means for participants is that they will generally be engaged for 30 hours per week on a project. That involves undertaking formal training in work-readiness, conservation and land management, heritage conservation, leadership, project and human resource management, and trades. Where possible, certificate I or II qualifications will be sought, although depending on the circumstances credit for units at more advanced levels may also be obtained. All participants will be paid an allowance. Anyone interested on any level can send an email to greenarmy@environment.gov.au.

I support this program very simply because it is a way to assist young people to get skills and qualifications while at the same time helping achieve environmental outcomes in Cowan. This is the sort of opportunity that all young people in Cowan, whether they live in Ballajura, Tapping, Warwick, Gnangara or anywhere, would be close to and could benefit from. Across Australia, the benefits for young people and the environment will be clear. The Green Army will be our biggest ever environmental workforce, with 15,000 by 2018, and some 1,500 projects. On such a scale, the benefits of habitat preservation, weeding, planting and cleaning up lakes and rivers will be immense. Of course, this is not in isolation to other Abbott government efforts. We will still see the National Landcare Program, direct action, the 20 million trees program and the Indigenous ranger program, all providing benefits across Australia and not undermining jobs, as the anti-Western Australian carbon tax does.

Of course, any discussion of the Green Army has to cover more than just skills and environmental benefits. The team supervisor will be an employee of the service provider and they will be paid a wage that is consistent with the relevant award, which is the Gardening and Landscaping Services Award. For the participants, they will be paid a Green Army allowance and will not at the same time receive a social security benefit or a pension. Through amendments to various Commonwealth laws, the participants will not be considered workers or employees of the Commonwealth.

I fully support and endorse the Green Army concept because it is based on the Green Corps program of the Howard government. Environmentally it was a successful program, seeing the propagation and planting of more than 14 million trees and the clearing of more than 50,000 weeds. The program also saw in excess of 8,000 kilometres of fencing and more than 5,000 kilometres of walking tracks or boardwalks constructed or maintained. I support the Green Army Program because it achieves for young people and for the environment. I like it because it links into the local needs and priorities of our environment and is there for young people in the area, helping to get them skills, qualifications, experience and achievements. I look forward to the bill being passed and I again encourage sponsors in Cowan to think about specific projects that will really help the environment in Cowan.

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