Natasha Griggs (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is my pleasure to follow the member for Dawson, who presented a very interesting discussion of projects in his electorate. I look forward to seeing the progress of those projects. I too rise to support this fantastic coalition election commitment. I am excited to have it begin in my electorate of Solomon.

The Green Army Program will begin in July 2014 and, as the member for Dawson said, it will be Australia's largest ever environmental workforce. Nationally, it will increase to 15,000 participants by 2018 and it will be capable of delivering 1,500 environmental projects on the ground. There is nothing shabby about it: it is a very big ambition and I am absolutely delighted to be part of it. The Green Army project works like this: young local people aged 17 and 24 years who are interested in protecting their local environment while gaining hands-on practical skills and experience will be engaged to carry out projects in an area where the aim is to improve their local environment and, indeed, community.

Local projects may include, but are not limited to: propagation and planting of native seedlings; weed control; revegetation and regeneration of local parks; habitat protection and restoration; improving water quality by cleaning up waterways, which the member for Dawson talked about; revegetation of sand dunes and mangroves; creek bank regeneration; foreshore and beach restoration; construction of boardwalks and walking tracks to protect local wildlife; and cultural heritage conservation.

The coalition is encouraging local organisations to use their imagination and expertise to create unique projects suited to their local surrounds, which is important for my electorate in the Top End of the Territory. Proposed projects will be assessed on a merit basis against its project's environmental benefits, the benefit to the local community and the potential for skills training for the project's participants. As the member for Solomon, I am calling on local organisations and individuals around Darwin and Palmerston to put forward their ideas for local Green Army projects. We want to hear from environmental groups, local community groups, youth organisations, local councils and natural resource management bodies.

While the coalition's Green Army Program aims to improve our local environment, there will be significant benefits to young Territorians as well. This is a very exciting project for the younger generations of Darwin and Palmerston, as it is a real opportunity for them to engage with their local community while gaining real skills which will help them enter the workforce when that time comes. Young people will gain hands-on, practical knowledge and experience, while enhancing their job readiness and increasing their skills base. Green Army projects will engage at least one team supervisor and up to nine participants to complete one project in 20 to 26 weeks. These participants will receive a Green Army allowance throughout the project with the team supervisor employed and paid a wage consistent with the gardening and landscaping services award.

Funding will be provided to each Green Army team for materials and equipment to allow participants to carry out their work. This can provide an alternative to income support for many young Territorians interested in upskilling and engaging in real work experiences while giving back to the local community at the same time. Participants can apply as school leavers and gap year students and, upon completion, there will be opportunities for participants to undertake further education and training as well as potential for employment with councils, Territory national parks or the thousands of environmental businesses across Australia.

Unfortunately, in true Labor style, misleading accusations have been thrown around about the health and safety measures for our Green Army. I heard fellow Territorian the member for Lingiari speaking ill of this project earlier today. Claims that Green Army participants will have no safety protection are incorrect, and it is absolutely irresponsible for those on that side of the House to spread these mistruths. They just cannot seem to get involved in anything that is positive, and this is a positive program for our youth.

The health and safety of Green Army participants will be governed by the relevant work health and safety laws in the Territory. The service providers will also have a responsibility for their Green Army teams and project sponsors will have a duty to provide a safe working environment. Insurance will be required to be held by all relevant parties, and the Commonwealth will also take out personal accident or product liability insurance for Green Army participants. This practice is consistent with the previous National Green Jobs Corp.

I am particularly excited for this project to begin in my electorate. The electorate of Solomon encompasses all of Darwin and Palmerston. We have some of the most beautiful landscapes in the Territory. Territorians are proud of their natural environment. Our local waterways are a source of food, income and recreation. Territory-wide we have some of the most pristine waterways in Australia. As a result, we have a strong passion for preserving our waterways. However, the member for Lingiari does not support this program, so unfortunately only Darwin and Palmerston organisations will be able to apply for this program. I look forward to seeing some constructive submissions from the Territory's environmental bodies as to how the grants program can benefit the people of Darwin and Palmerston.

The coalition has a strong background and much experience in delivering for Australia's environment. I am confident that this Green Army project will build on the Howard government's successful Green Corps program, which was established in 1996. Throughout the life of the Green Corps program participants delivered many local community oriented projects, including propagating and planting more than 14 million trees, erecting more than 8,000 kilometres of fencing, clearing more than 50,000 weeds, and constructing and maintaining more than 5,000 kilometres of walking tracks and boardwalks.

In 2014 we are much more aware of the impact humans are having on our environment and, more than ever, Australians are keen to lend a hand to preserve our natural landscapes. The Northern Territory and the rest of Australia has a natural environment that draws visitors from all over the world who travel thousands of kilometres just to see our amazing natural wonders. In the Territory our tourism industry is well served by our natural attractions. We are blessed with a magnificent harbour, with kilometres of tropical coastline surrounding Darwin and Palmerston. We have the Kakadu National Park covering almost 20,000 square kilometres of natural landscape. We have the Litchfield National Park with its many watering holes and walking tracks. More than ever, it is vital to the Territory that we preserve our environment. What better way to do that than to engage local young Territorians to learn about the environment and possibly develop a career in caring for our local community?

We have much catching up to do due to the Labor government's failure to have an efficient environmental policy that provides actual results. This is typical of the Labor Party—all talk and no action. Labor's approach to the environment was to hit families, businesses and the economy with the carbon tax. The carbon tax was an attack on the entire Australian economy, and it did not even decrease our impact on the environment. Basically, it did not work. Despite a $7.8 billion tax, emissions for the first 12 months barely changed by 0.1 per cent.

Under Labor's watch, the important Green Corps initiative was torn apart, rebadged and failed to improve the environment. Then, in true Labor form, it was dismantled in 2012. Young people no longer had this fantastic opportunity to gain real life skills whilst giving back to their local community and improving the environment in which they lived. The coalition's Green Corps projects reached all corners of the Northern Territory, and the program certainly had a lot of support in Darwin and Palmerston. Significant projects completed in the Territory included the Casuarina Coastal Reserve project in my electorate, which saw the construction of three kilometres of walking track and boardwalk through the mangroves and monsoonal vine thickets along the Casuarina foreshore. A major Landcare group project in Darwin saw weed control, site preparation and tree planting in association with the Atlas moth. A project in Darwin's CBD area aimed to rehabilitate the native plant community of the escarpment, along with Darwin's foremost park within the CBD area. The project tasks included a process of extensive weed eradication, fire danger control and revegetation.

Based on how successful these Green Corps projects were, I have no doubt the Green Army projects in my electorate will be extremely effective and I encourage anyone interested in starting a project to contact my electorate office. The Coalition's Green Army Program will provide, as I said, 150,000 young people with the opportunity to work on local projects and improve their local community. This will be the largest standing environmental workforce in Australia's history. While the youth involvement in this project is a major component of this policy, the objective of the Green Army is to combat land degradation, clean up our waterways, provide real and practical solutions to cleaning up riverbanks and creek beds, revegetate sand dunes, revegetate mangrove habitat and a host of other environmental conservation projects.

We believe in encouraging practical, hands-on, grassroots action in combatting human impact on our environment. This is a fantastic way to harness the knowledge of local communities, encouraging them to identify and fix the local problems. I know we are not short of this knowledge in the electorate of Solomon. We have fantastic community leaders with a passion for environmental awareness, many of whom I have met during my time as the member for Solomon. This approach to environmental issues will foster community spirit, local ownership and teamwork, of which I can proudly say we do so well in Darwin and Palmerston.

I congratulate the minister for his hard work in unravelling the environmental mess that the Labor Party has left us. With an unsuccessful carbon tax and no effective policy to tackle environmental issues on the ground, the Labor Party left the minister with a real mess. I have no doubt that the Green Army project will be a huge success for Australia, and I know it will be a success in Solomon. I cannot wait to see the fabulous projects that I know my constituents will come up with. Once again, Minister Hunt has done an awesome job with this policy. I wholeheartedly support this bill and look forward to the green army starting in July 2014.

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