Andrew Nikolic (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Green Army Programme) Bill 2014, a policy that will achieve some key outcomes in my electorate of Bass. It addresses much-needed environmental works in my community, it delivers skills, knowledge, attitudes, experience, a training wage and supervision—vital, given the unacceptably high unemployment rate we have in Northern Tasmania, sadly the highest in the country. Also, it enhances not only the environmental values of some of these beautiful parts of my community but also—perhaps more importantly—enhances the social, recreational and business amenity of many of these areas.

My electorate of Bass will become part of a 15,000-strong Green Army across the country, building on the Howard government's successful Green Corps, which was established, as we know, in 1996. And, as we know, the Green Corps was torn up under Labor, rebadged and, like so many other Labor policies, failed to achieve the intended effects. By terminating the Green Corps, Labor terminated opportunities for young people to upskill and take pride in their environment themselves. We will restore those opportunities.

The Green Army, the cleaner environment plan and the coalition's Direct Action Plan for climate change are not discrete programs. They represent the restoration of some key ideas central to a 21st century sustainable development policy. Let me state for the record that sustainable development is not a policy objective that is the property of any party. Certainly not of the Greens, who self-righteously and unjustifiably claim a monopoly on environmental matters.

The Green Army puts the triple bottom-line objectives of sustainable development at the forefront of outcomes. It seeks local solutions to environmental, community and economic challenges. The Green Army projects will turn those challenges into opportunities that add social and economic value to the immediacy of environmental restoration work. The Green Army will demonstrate, in a practical way—an irony that should not be lost on the Greens—that there are tangible linkages between economic, social and environmental issues. These projects will deliver enhanced-skills training for young people fully engaged in the aspirations of their communities, to secure real sustainable development outcomes.

The Green Corps demonstrated real benefits for young people beyond better skills. It improved their sense of worth; their potential to be leaders and mentors within their peer group; their sense of having a purpose and a plan for a day, a week and a month ahead; the absolute rewards of engaging with community-based projects where they lived, worked and played; being part of a team; developing a sense of mateship; and, most importantly, being valued as a contributor to a project that brings pride to a community. The Green Army will replicate those attributes.

The coalition's election commitments to Bass demonstrate an awareness of how the three pillars of sustainable development can produce integrated approaches to social, economic and environmental challenges. This approach is best identified by the coalition's commitment to the Tamar River Recovery Plan. It is the centrepiece of a range of other project commitments centred on what is a magnificent estuary. The environmental restoration will, in turn, enable and support economic investment. The Tamar River Recovery Plan, ostensibly an environmental project, is in fact central to northern Tasmania's capacity to attract people to visit, work and invest in our region. It is a critical, social and economic enabler for the Northern Tasmanian region.

The associated projects funded by the coalition include the $6 million I have secured for the North Bank project that will turn an unattractive industrial estate on the river into beautiful parkland with a playground, a sound shell and a range of family-friendly amenities. It incorporates a hotel development on a disused silo site, with a potential bridge walkway link over and along the banks of the Tamar estuary into the existing sea port development—a showpiece for the city of Launceston—through to the magnificent Launceston Cataract Gorge.

The Tamar River Recovery Plan has a number of major components. Importantly, it targets long-neglected environmental degradation of the Tamar estuary, especially the sediment build-up and the unsightly mudflats that develop in the upper catchment within sight of the CBD. This has restricted access and use of the estuary, and a range of nutrient pollutants flow into the catchment from the ageing combined stormwater-sewerage system. I am very proud to have secured the resources needed for the Tamar River Recovery Plan, because strategy without resources is illusion.

We have $2.2 million to be invested in the activities of the Launceston Flood Authority—sediment raking and bathymetric surveying of sediment removal. We will succeed where Labor failed. Prior to the 2010 election, the then state environment minister, Michelle O'Byrne, promised $6.65 million for the Tamar River over three years to undertake a dredging program. She ensured that there would be an immediate start to remove 1,000 cubic metres of silt, supported by an ongoing annual maintenance regime to shift an extra 50,000 cubic metres of silt. The Labor government in Tasmania failed to support a healthier river. They did not deliver on that promise. We will deliver on that promise, and we will support a healthier Tamar River.

We have also secured $300,000 in resources for important repair works and preventing riverbank degradation. We have $500,000 to invest in quick wins to prevent sewage inflows into the Tamar River during heavy rain events, and also to fund scoping works to determine how best to modernise the archaic sewerage infrastructure system in Launceston.

The Green Army projects approved for Bass will provide opportunities for young people in northern Tasmania aged 17 to 24 to gain training and experience in environmental and heritage conservation fields and to explore careers in those areas. As I often say to our young people during school and other presentations, 'It does not matter where you start, providing you make a start.' The Green Army Program will help many young people to start work.

In Bass, the government is committed to Green Army projects in two areas: Kings Bridge to Duck Reach and Kings Bridge to the Tailrace. I have also prepared a number of new project proposals, and will be fighting for these projects to be delivered for our community.

A number of those opposite have made some mendacious claims about payments to Green Army participants. Let me put some facts on the record: the Green Army allowance is higher than Labor's National Green Jobs Corps, the Green Corps program, Newstart and youth allowance. For example, under the Green Army Program a 21-year-old participant will receive a fortnightly allowance of between $885.60 and—(Time expired)

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