Louise Markus (Macquarie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with great pleasure that I speak to my motion to establish the Greater Western Sydney Conservation Corridor. The corridor seeks to link a series of nature reserves with priority conservation sites and private and public land to establish a continuous conservation corridor for the protection of Western Sydney endangered flora and fauna species. It will also deliver an environmental legacy for future generations in Sydney's Greater West. The creation of the corridor will see a continuous linkage of large bushland remnants from Mulgoa Nature Reserve to Shane's Park, to Windsor Downs Nature Reserve, to Agnes Banks Nature Reserve and back to Mulgoa. The ideal outcome is a corridor over 30 kilometres in length and 10,000 hectares in size.

With an estimated 500,000 new residents forecast for south-western, western and north-western Sydney over the next 15 to 20 years, the needs for green space and natural bushland and the opportunity to save Western Sydney's unique ecological communities and to enjoy some quality of life are more important than ever. There are many challenges ahead to achieve this and I believe it can be achieved if we work together. The establishment of the corridor was an election commitment of all major parties, with the coalition pledge of $15 million being described by a key local environmental group as 'the greatest commitment of all of the parties'. Had the coalition been elected, the corridor would be well advanced towards becoming a reality. I note that since the election there has been silence from Labor and Green candidates on the issue. The coalition, on the other hand, is taking action to help the environment and the people of Western Sydney.

The motion addresses a number of key strategies—establishing a joint state-federal consultative committee to guide the way forward; consultation with the new New South Wales government on the feasibility of a comprehensive audit to identify conservation values for threatened and endangered Cumberland Plain woodlands vegetation and animal species and    on strategies to acquire identified priority conservation sites and private land essential to the viability of the corridor; and of course the establishment of the corridor. I am committed to working with my state and federal colleagues to save some of the last remaining stands of Cumberland Plain woodland and the unique and diverse fauna of Western Sydney in a lasting environmental legacy for future generations.

As the member for Macquarie, an electorate that incorporates the Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury, I am honoured to have stewardship over some of this nation's most beautiful and uniquely diverse natural environments. Stewardship is the careful and responsible management of the environment for future generations, which includes taking action to protect, minimise, mitigate or remediate harmful impacts on the environment. Hence the need for this motion. I saw the need to protect Western Sydney's unique natural flora and fauna and I saw the need for people to stay close to nature. This corridor, I believe, will successfully deliver on both those needs. Life is about balance, and through the establishment of the conservation corridor, strategically located in the heart of Western Sydney's urbanisation, we can lock in a place where wildlife can thrive and survive and a place where people can enjoy and learn about natural habitat. They can be part of the solution.

As a young person I grew up at Gladesville in Sydney, surrounded by natural nature reserves. They were my playground, and this is what I want for future generations of Greater Western Sydney. There is an ongoing challenge to identify, protect and save Greater Western Sydney's unique wildlife. My motion today is a result of the coalition's commitment to direct action on the environment, and I encourage the community, my parliamentary colleagues both state and federal and the present and future residents of Greater Western Sydney to support this motion.

Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I understand that the member for Macquarie has recently become the representative for the Blue Mountains, and I can understand why that would require her to start to understand the environmental needs of the area. I would just like to say that when you find out about an environmental matter it is actually worth trying to find out what has been happening as well. Finding new things to do is very important, and we all do that, but there has actually been action going on in this area. To ignore it is a little bit dishonest, to say the least. For a start, the member for Macquarie says in her press release that the coalition's commitment to the Cumberland Plain Woodlands gives 'a great opportunity to create an environmental legacy for future generations to enjoy'. It seems too obvious to point out the irony of the statement, coming from a party who are not quite sure if they believe in climate change and from a member of parliament who attended the 23 March carbon tax demonstration in Canberra. This is a party whose plan to secure an environmental legacy for all future generations, not just Western Sydney, is nothing short of laughable.

Louise Markus (Macquarie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is practical action. It will bring about a result.

John Murphy (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The honourable member was heard in silence. She will extend the same courtesy to the member for Parramatta.

Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They uphold their concern for the Cumberland Plain, which they are going to save with a green army, according to the member's press release. If they were really concerned about the environmental legacy for future generations to enjoy, the first thing they would look at is the big picture and they would sign up for a price on carbon, as we have—

Louise Markus (Macquarie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So what will you do about—

John Murphy (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Macquarie will desist from interjecting.

Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

and they would act locally, as we already are. The member for Macquarie would have us believe that this government has 'failed to act to protect Cumberland Plain Woodland'.

Mrs Markus interjecting—

John Murphy (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Macquarie will desist from interjecting.

Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would say that the member for Macquarie has failed to do any basic research in preparation for her press stunt today in the House. The government is well and truly aware of the threat to this unique environment, the remnants of which contain about 150 endangered native plant species as well as those overlooked little things, to quote the Botanic Gardens, such as the plain mosses, lichens and fungi. Only about seven per cent of the remaining bushland in this region is protected, and its subregion has less than 13 per cent of the pre-1750 native vegetation.

Let me remind the member for Macquarie of the long-term work this government is doing to protect this unique environment. In the dying days of the 2004 election campaign, the coalition, with no community consultation and without regard to its enormous conservation value—and without comment from the then candidate for Greenway, now the member for Macquarie—wreaked havoc on plans to save the Cumberland Plain by secretly selling off the 181-hectare Cranebrook Air Services area near Penrith to a private developer. That is a little bit of history that you have left out of your spin activity each day.

Louise Markus (Macquarie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, what are you doing—

John Murphy (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Macquarie is warned!

Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Macquarie would know, if she had done any research at all, because in 2009, in a joint initiative with the New South Wales Labor government, we undid the damage and brought the site back, providing National Reserve System funding to support the New South Wales Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water. Cranebrook is now managed for conservation by the New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage as part of the Wianamatta Regional Park—a little bit information the member for Macquarie might want to find out about before she goes off on some half-baked criticism of the government. That of course is home for 10 per cent of the remaining Castlereagh Swamp Woodland endangered ecological community.

In addition to this, in 2010 the Gillard government committed up to $7.5 million to connect important bushland and habitat to consolidate the Cumberland Conservation Corridor. On top of that $7.5 million to buy property to connect the corridor, we are also providing support for the Western Sydney region through our flagship environmental initiative Caring for our Country. This program will invest $2 billion over five years nationally and focuses on landscape-scale measures. In Western Sydney regions the government has provided the Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchment Management Authority with over $9 million over four years from 2009-10 and $2.6 million over three years from 2010-11. This funding is for improved natural resource management, and in the Hawkesbury-Nepean region focuses on increasing native habitat for nationally threatened species, including in the Cumberland Plain Woodland. The member for Macquarie might be silent on these matters, because it certainly makes her press release much more interesting if she can claim, falsely, that the government is doing nothing. But, again, if you want to discover the environment, discover what is actually being done as well.

Russell Matheson (Macarthur, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Macquarie. I can see, from what she had said in this chamber today, that she is very passionate about her community. I also acknowledge and commend the shadow minister for climate action, environment and heritage. Both have an ongoing commitment to preserving the natural ecological communities of Greater Western Sydney.

I am very pleased to have this opportunity to speak on the motion on the Greater Western Sydney conservation corridor. For too long we have seen these beautiful natural habitats destroyed by overdevelopment, encroachment by agriculture, pests and inaction by government. If the government does not take action now this part of Australia's environmental heritage will be lost forever. The coalition has a strong commitment to ensuring that our natural environment is preserved for future generations in the form of an environmental legacy. In the 2010 federal election campaign, the coalition pledged $15 million to establish the Greater Western Sydney conservation corridor. This was publicly described by the Western Sydney Conservation Alliance as the greatest commitment of all parties. This is not a tin-pot agency coming out and making just any statement. The alliance are saying that the coalition's policy is the best policy of all the parties.

In the Macarthur region, indeed in the Greater Western Sydney area, the Cumberland Plain Woodlands ecological community, including many endangered flora and fauna species, is considered by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 to be critically endangered. That is why it is fantastic to see the member for Macquarie standing up for her community. Prior to European settlement, the Cumberland Plain Woodlands covered over 125,000 hectares across Western Sydney, stretching from the Hawkesbury region down through Holsworthy, Campbelltown and the greater Macarthur region. Today, less than 10 per cent of the original woodland remains and of this only 30 hectares lie within the National Parks and Wildlife Service protected areas. It is a crying shame.

The Cumberland Plain Woodlands have been devastated by development, agriculture and pests. The remaining ecological community exists only in small patches, adding further pressure to the woodlands. The federal government needs to act now to protect the Cumberland Plain Woodlands. The protection of this critically endangered habitat was an election promise made by all sides of politics but it seems that this promise is going to be left by the wayside.

The Sydney growth centres strategic assessment report proposes to allow another 1,187 hectares of this endangered habitat to be entirely cleared—that is a disgrace—to make way for the north-west and south-west growth centres. This amount totals about 11 per cent of what remains of these woodlands. It is imperative that we protect these woodlands by, firstly, implementing the coalition's policy to protect Western Sydney's Cumberland Plain Woodlands and endangered flora and fauna species by establishing the Greater Western Sydney conservation corridor linking nature reserves and identified priority lands within the Greater Western Sydney region.

As the member for Macquarie stated, this motion alerts the people of Greater Western Sydney and south-western Sydney to the Labor government's failure to act to protect the Cumberland Plain Woodlands and endangered flora and fauna species while allowing continued development in the Greater Western and south-western Sydney areas. In my electorate alone, the population is going to double to 500,000 people. In the Camden local government area, the population is going to grow by 330 per cent. All of the trees are being cleared for a corridor from Greater Western Sydney to south-western Sydney.

It is a mind-boggling result of the government's inaction over the past few years. We need the government to act now and protect the Cumberland Plain Woodlands in Greater Western and south-western Sydney so that the children and families in these growing areas can appreciate what great lands they are.

Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I take this opportunity to speak on this private member's motion that calls on the government to implement coalition pre-election policy and to work with the New South Wales government on a number of specified matters with the objective, one would think, of making some positive contribution to the natural environment of Western Sydney.

Firstly, I want to point out that the preservation and enjoyment of the remaining Cumberland Plain Woodlands have long been a Labor priority, as was eloquently pointed out by the member for Parramatta, and one of deep policy importance to me. More relevantly, it is a priority that has been backed up by decades of policy in action at a local level, including by Blacktown City Council, informed by local advisory groups and scores of conservation volunteers. This long history of environmental sustainability puts to rest any ill-informed assumptions that residents in Western Sydney care little for their natural environment. To the contrary, there are parts of Blacktown City that contain some of the last remaining areas of the Cumberland Plain Woodlands. In one of the fastest developing urban landscapes in Australia, where one can stand in paddocks that until recently contained cattle and horses, you can literally see the edge of metropolitan Sydney under construction. With this development comes not only residential dwellings but recreational and other needs, such as schools and community facilities.

As someone who has long been involved in local government, I have witnessed firsthand the inevitable tensions that arise in the context of rapid urban development and the achievement of local environment sustainability frameworks, and I could name many individual instances. There can be no argument that the recognition and preservation of those rare ecological communities must be implemented in a way that achieves long-term results and that our investments must continue to be tied to such goals. Speaking of long-term results, I want to highlight the Greening Blacktown program, which was designed to preserve as much of the existing established tree stock as is practicable and has resulted in the city enjoying a distinctive green canopy, visible from nearly every vantage point. It was groundbreaking for its day and it too does not operate without criticism. While a councillor I regularly took complaints from residents who objected to the requirements of tree preservation orders under the Blacktown Local Environmental Plan, which requires council approval to remove or prune any live tree which falls within the scope of the order. This was designed to achieve a balance for what was, even when it was first instigated, one of the fastest growing areas of Australia and a city which is now home to figures approaching one in every 70 Australians.

Secondly, I want to point out the policy in action which is being demonstrated by innovative programs such as Regenesis, which both I and the member for Chifley have mentioned in this place. I have long believed in the paramount importance of community-owned environmental initiatives. That is what makes Regenesis so special. In partnership with Liverpool Plains Shire Council, the Regenesis program offsets local communities' carbon emissions through environmental restoration and tree planting. Regenesis is the first of its kind for local councils and has resulted in the planting of 33 forests in the Blacktown and Liverpool Plains regions—that is, 220,000 native plants and more than 100 hectares, grown according to the carbon-trading requirements established by the Kyoto protocol.

Finally, I want to mention the provisions of this motion that call for federal-state initiatives for a Western Sydney conservation corridor. Well, that is going to be a bit harder now since the New South Wales Liberal government has abolished its environment department by 'elevating' it to a mere division of the Department of Premier and Cabinet. Premier O'Farrell says this is not a downgrade. Let us tell that to Catherine Cusack, his former climate change spokesperson, who was dumped for not supporting the policies of the Shooters and Fishers Party on hunting in national parks.

There is clearly no intention by this Liberal government in New South Wales to prioritise the environment. Instead, it is plain to all that the environment, including any supposed consolidation of the Cumberland Conservation Corridor, will be compromised rather than prioritised. Does anyone seriously believe that a Liberal state government, which is prepared to trade off shooting in national parks, is going to engage in conservation in Western Sydney? I absolutely doubt that.

Louise Markus (Macquarie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What would you do?

Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am glad the member for Macquarie is interjecting because, as we all know, her great contribution to the environment was standing in front of a grossly sexist sign alongside Pauline Hanson at a carbon tax rally. Finally she has discovered that she has the residents of the Blue Mountains in her electorate who, surprise, surprise, care about the environment. If she were serious about protecting the environment she would go for some policy in action along the lines I have mentioned. She would start supporting policies in action, like those I have mentioned and like the member for Parramatta has mentioned. Let us make no mistake. This New South Wales Liberal government cares less about the environment than the member for Macquarie herself.

Debate adjourned.