Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australia is blessed with a beautiful and unique environment, but it is also a fragile one and we have not looked after it as well as we could have and we have had to learn some painful lessons. Rising salinity has devastated our soils. Blue green algal blooms have ruined waterways. Introduced animal and weed pests have attacked native birds, plants and animals and have damaged agriculture. We have learned the hard way that you cannot just clear the native vegetation and engage in fence-to-fence agriculture without doing serious harm to both environment and agriculture.

Many volunteers and community groups have come together around the country to try to repair some of this environmental damage. Twenty five years ago, back in 1989, I set up what is now known as the Friends of Moonee Ponds Creek to try to restore this much degraded Cinderella of urban waterways to something of its former glory. We have not succeeded in removing the concrete from large sections of the creek, but we have been able to replant a lot of the original vegetation, and areas like the Jacana Wetlands have became an oasis for waterbird life.

We will be celebrating 25 years of volunteer effort on Sunday, 15 June with a tree-planting and BBQ at the John Street Reserve in Oak Park between 10 am and 12 noon. I commend the work of our great volunteers: secretary, Kaye Oddie; treasurer, Vince Aitkin; Frank Kinnersley; Julie Law; Carolyn Layton; Tony Smith; Anna Lanigan; Bob Steadman; Stella Blay; David Muir; Mark O'Brien; Terry Mundy; Clive Judd; Audrey Biggs; Joe Ficarra; and many others who have helped out over the years.

It is also 25 years since Landcare was established. Landcare has a very Victorian pedigree. I am very pleased to support the motion from the member for Shortland, my friend Jill Hall. There has been some very significant research done concerning the health benefits of exposure to nature—for example, by the UK researcher Graham Rook concerning the value of microbes in the soil in building up our immune system and concerning the psychological benefits and mental health benefits of being around birds, plants and animals. The fact is that we spend a tremendous amount of time and money and effort on our 'grey' infrastructure but nowhere near as much on our 'green' infrastructure, parks and gardens, trees and vegetation, and sporting ovals, and our 'blue infrastructure, creeks and waterways, coasts and beaches, and lakes and wetlands.

So the work done by Landcare groups right around the country has been incredibly important. Australia is proud to boast more than 4,000 community Landcare groups, 2,000 Coastcare groups and many thousands of volunteers across the country. Through Australia's people and communities, the Landcare movement is making a big difference in caring for our country. All around Australia, Landcare is helping repair and viably manage our precious natural resources.

I want to mention the work of the Victorian Landcare Council, which was established in 2008 to represent the interests of volunteer Landcare in Victoria in pursuing a healthy and sustainable environment. The Victorian Landcare Council is independent of government, business or other organisations. As members are probably aware, the overall picture in terms of land, soil, water and the state of the environment around the world is not rosy. With the state of the environment and agriculture deteriorating, the challenges ahead are immense. One of the things the Victorian Landcare Council, and in particular one of the architects of Landcare and chair of Australian Landcare International, Rob Youl, has been seeking to do, is to export Landcare overseas.

In June last year, I had the honour of speaking at the launch of the Overseas Landcare Fund, an initiative of the Victorian Landcare Council and Australian Landcare International. As I said then, the idea of helping overseas Landcare groups is very exciting. Landcare in some form is now in 26 countries especially Asia and East Africa. The Overseas Landcare Fund has given funds to projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for revegetation, to Nigeria for wetlands and biodiversity, to Tanzania Junior Landcare, to Sri Lanka for water quality and to the Philippines and Indonesia for tree nurseries. In the Pacific, Fiji has several Landcare projects, the first of which originated from WWF. The Australian Landcare International members also helped launch Tonga's first Landcare group via Rotary Australia.

So in the year of Landcare's 25th anniversary, we can see that it has not only achieved a lot in Australia, it is also becoming a very successful Australian export. I therefore hope that the Liberal government will rethink its nearly $480 million cut from the Landcare budget, and also its overseas aid cuts which diminish our capacity to help other countries look after their land, their water, the natural environment.

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