Kylea Tink (North Sydney, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

The Australian Conservation Foundation's Wild At Art competition is on. Over recent weeks, young people from across the North Sydney electorate have been sharing their creations with my office. As much as we love seeing the artwork, it's the stories each work tells that leaves a lasting impression. They tell it loud and clear: children of North Sydney care deeply about the future of Australia's threatened plants and animals and their disappearing homes. For these kids, the link between wildlife and its habitat is crystal clear. But I fear this government is not making the same connection.

Last Thursday was National Threatened Species Day. While we saw a flurry of headline grabs, with the release of various government recovery plans and programs, I question whether real change is coming, as it was also reported that conservation groups and scientists were sidelined when the government's swift parrot recovery plan was released without consultation. What's more, the plan de-emphasised native forest logging as the key threat to swift parrots and highlighted the tiny sugar glider's predatory habits instead.

In the same way children's artwork tells stories, the government's lack of real action and their narrative of distraction when it comes to reconciliation of the impacts of unchecked environmental destruction say it all. North Sydney recently received an E grade on the WWF threatened species report card, while overall our nation received an F—grades that would have seen me grounded as a child had they turned up in my report cards. With over 61 threatened species identified across my electorate, we must all accept that we are out of time and we cannot afford to fail any more tests. (Time expired)

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