Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1)    acknowledges that many young Australians are environmentally conscious and interested in protecting our precious natural environment;

(2)    recognises that the Government’s Green Army programme is providing practical opportunities for young Australians to participate in local environmental projects;

(3)    acknowledges that participants gain practical skills and training that can assist them to prepare for the workforce and improve career opportunities;

(4)    notes that four Green Army projects have commenced in the electoral division of Ryan, and hundreds more have commenced across Australia; and

(5)    commends the Government for committing more than $700 million over four years to the Green Army programme.

My electorate of Ryan takes in the most beautiful and greenest parts of Queensland's most sustainable city. In thinking about how to save our planet from our own backyard and leaving our natural assets in better condition, a new generation of young environmentalists is enlisting in our Green Army. I am as optimistic as I am proud of this growing army of young environmental champions, especially those who also live, work and love Brisbane's leafy western suburbs.

The coalition government's Green Army will make a real difference in some of our country's neglected natural estate through restoring and protecting habitat, weeding, planting, cleaning up creeks and rivers, and restoring cultural heritage areas. The Green Army initiative will bring our government's investment in natural resource management to more than $2 billion over four years from 2015-16.

In improving and rehabilitating our natural estate, actions speak louder than words. And, in climate policy more broadly, thinking globally requires meaningful action at the local level. That is why I am pleased to report that Brisbane is Queensland's most sustainable city for the second consecutive year and it was also Australia's most sustainable city last year and a finalist again this year. For a high-growth city like Brisbane to be consistently recognised as one of our nation's most sustainable is not something that is achieved by accident. It is not the product of unconstrained ideology, a union credit card and wishful thinking. The coalition is committed to good planning, strong leadership, hard work, an innovative and agile approach to policy design and a commitment to work with our community to deliver more affordable and better local solutions.

In my electorate of Ryan this year, for example, the coalition is supporting four Green Army projects. We are working with our community to restore about 1.5 hectares of bushland along Enoggera Creek that will include installing visitor interpretive signs, revegetating and planting native shrubs and trees, removing weeds and increasing resilience in the waterways. Following on from work already completed as part of the Two Million Trees Project, the Anstead Bushlands Environmental Restoration Project will restore a further 7.3 hectares of land. Then there is the Ashgrove Scenic Reserve Restoration Project and, following on from valuable work done by Habitat Brisbane, the Paten Park Restoration project, which will help remove weeds and replant native species in their place. These natural environmental improvement projects are a fantastic way to encourage and educate our youth about natural ecosystems, environmental conservation and how to care for the unique natural assets in our own backyard.

For young Australians aged between 17 and 24, the Green Army provides valuable practical experience and training while undertaking work that will improve the environment in our local communities right across urban, regional and remote Australia. It will be Australia's biggest ever team supporting environment action and will grow to about 15,000 young Australians by 2018. In our first year, the coalition government announced more than 700 projects. More than 350 projects have already been rolled out, and this will increase to about 1,500 projects right across Australia in four years. It is a great opportunity for us to work with our community leaders so that the natural assets in the special parts of our own backyard benefit from an innovative program that supports local environment and heritage conservation projects. I enjoy working with our community leaders, including Lord Mayor Graham Quirk and the council's chairman for environment, parks and sustainability, Councillor Matthew Bourke, to make sure our city has a cleaner and greener future.

The experience in Brisbane over the last decade has shown that to deliver the best possible environmental outcome it is important to develop and support practical actions for the whole community house by house, street by street, suburb by suburb. The results speak for themselves. While Labor and their union bosses are still gambling on a policy of action fuelled by ideology, the coalition will continue to deliver more affordable, more meaningful and more sustainable outcomes locally. Actions speak louder than words, and that is why I am proud to be an honorary ambassador for Queensland's most sustainable city and it is why I applaud the coalition government's Green Army program, because it will drive and support real local action and better environmental outcomes right across the Australian landscape.

Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion put forward by the member for Ryan. Whilst I strongly condemn her politicising of the facts—that people being in a union is somehow a bad thing—I am happy to speak on the motion in terms of the contribution that the Green Army makes in my electorate of Moreton. On Thursday last week, I went out to the Oxley Creek Riparian Connectivity Phase 2 project and caught up with the young workers who were working on the banks of Oxley Creek at the Corinda Golf Course—375 Cliveden Avenue, Oxley, for those who are interested in a little game of golf. It is a little nine-hole golf course, one of the three in my electorate, with a little pitch-and-putt and a driving range on Oxley Road—a nice contribution to the local economy.

Oxley Creek drains an area of approximately 260 square kilometres. From the northern slopes of Mount Perry, south of Ipswich, Oxley Creek flows into the Brisbane River near Tennyson, which is the northern boundary of my electorate, just across the river from the member for Ryan's electorate. The Oxley Creek Catchment Association was formed in 1995 from collaboration between some members of the Oxley Creek Environment Group and the Australian Marine Conservation Society. They do fantastic work. This association developed the Oxley Creek Catchment Management Plan in early 1999. The association oversees the implementation of that plan and is guided by a fully endorsed catchment coordinating committee under the Department of Natural Resources and Mines integrated catchment management program.

In Australia every square metre of land is part of a catchment, even though some never reaches the ocean. Water falling in a catchment area will run across the surface of the catchment, becoming stormwater run-off or groundwater. It is important for the health of our waterways that associations like the Oxley Creek Catchment Association and their very dedicated and hardworking volunteers look after the health of our waterways. As water runs across the catchment area, some seeps into the soil and plant matter slows the flow so that, ideally, the water enters the creek slowly. Plants also naturally filter the water, keeping the creeks and rivers naturally purified. When the catchment areas are polluted, so too are our waterways, and then it flows out the Brisbane River to Moreton Bay and becomes a problem. In an urban environment like Moreton there are many factors that make it difficult to keep our waterways healthy and clean. Large sealed areas such as roadways and carparks make it impossible for the water to seep through into the soil, causing the flow to be too fast. The water will enter the creek without any filtering, carrying rubbish and polluting the waterways. That is a problem for wildlife further down the stream. It is crucial that the riparian creek bank vegetation is sturdy and healthy.

The work the Green Army is doing with the Oxley Creek Catchment Association is vital to the health of Moreton's waterways, be it Oxley Creek, Rocky Creek or any of the smaller tributaries. These hardworking young people I met last week, led by the two Joshes and Chris, include university students, school leavers and all sorts of people. These were young people who are very proud to be making a contribution to Australia's environment. Their assigned project involves managing weed species; cutting out a lot of the introduced species; removing debris, rubbish and litter; and establishing and maintaining a native riparian buffer. This will provide creek bank stabilisation and a natural filtration system for the overland flows that enter Oxley Creek, which—as anyone who lives around Rocklea knows—is a regular occurrence, even in some parts of Oxley and Corinda. The young people participating in this Green Army project are learning valuable skills and information about their local environment. They are learning from the Oxley Creek Catchment Association—people who are extremely dedicated and passionate about our environment. They are wonderful role models for these young people. It is this kind of practical mentoring in our society that will naturally promote sharing between generations of knowledge, practical skills and a little bit of that environmental passion.

Protecting our environment is everyone's business. We must all play our part. It is vitally important that our younger generations understand the importance of protecting our waterways, especially as dangerous climate change becomes a reality. This project will aid in preserving the environment and promoting knowledge and practical responses to dangerous climate change. I commend the Oxley Creek Catchment Association for hosting the Green Army, and I commend all of the young people working on that project—especially the young people I met last week. They make a valuable contribution to the environment in the Moreton electorate. They are doing a great job. I thank them again for their enthusiasm and for what they are doing to make sure waterways, such as Oxley Creek, are clean and healthy.

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

I rise to speak on the coalition government's Green Army initiative, which continues to deliver very positive outcomes, particularly for our young people and the environment in the electorate of Macquarie and, indeed, across the nation. With projects regularly occurring across the electorate, we are seeing firsthand the benefits of the program on the ground in both the Hawkesbury and the Blue Mountains.

While supporting local environmental work and heritage conservation projects across Australia, the Green Army initiative is engaging young people aged 17-24 years, and providing them with opportunities to learn new skills to prepare them for a career path they may not have considered before being given this opportunity and gaining this experience. With more than $700 million committed to Green Army projects across Australia over four years, it is making a real difference to environmental assets by restoring and protecting habitats, removing noxious weeds, planting native plants, cleaning up creeks and rivers and restoring cultural heritage places. Recently I had the opportunity to witness firsthand the benefits of the initiative for the youth who have been taking part and who are having a go even if they did not feel particularly interested when they first began.

There have been many projects in the Hawkesbury and Blue Mountains which have achieved wonderful outcomes for the environment. The Bushells Lagoon project at Wilberforce in the Hawkesbury is one I will mention in particular. The Green Army team that has been working on this project for the last six months recently gave a progress presentation on its challenges, achievements and experiences. The volunteers spoke proudly and confidently about the processes they had been through to re-establish the health of the degraded lagoon and surrounding environment, along with the skills they had learnt and the opportunities that had arisen for future career paths. The Bushells Lagoon project has seen the Green Army team working with the Hawkesbury Environment Network over six months to assess the health and habitat values of the wetland, to provide staged works to remove invasive weeds, to propagate a wide range of suitably local indigenous plant species and to undertake a revegetation program along selected sections of the lagoon's foreshores.

It was great to seek how much the hard-working participants have gained in experience, knowledge, comradeship and the opportunities it is opening up for them. They are outstanding young people who demonstrated great skill and capacity to apply their learning into transformational outcomes for the environment. Many of those working on the project have also brought a wealth of knowledge on board, through bachelor degrees in natural resource management, water quality, riparian management and animal science which was incredibly valuable. For many, it also sparked the desire for them to continue to work within this field. The volunteers also recognised that the work that had been achieved must be maintained in the future. The project has allowed many to realise they enjoy working with the environment and want to see the hard work that they put in continue to have positive outcomes and continue to be maintained.

These projects would not be possible without the brilliant work and dedication of the sponsors and team leaders of the Green Army. For the Bushells Lagoon project, it is the Hawkesbury Environment Network and the team supervisor, Andy Araya. These sponsors and team supervisors make the experience educational and fun for volunteers while restoring and protecting our precious environment. I particularly want to thank and congratulate them for their dedication and commitment. The Hawkesbury Environment Network project coordinator, Robin Woods, said she too could see the benefits of the Green Army initiative on both the volunteers and environment. Ms Woods said, 'The team on the Bushells Lagoon project had established over 1,000 plants, undertaken invasive weed control and actively engaged with several landholders to re-establish a healthy natural environment.' Many landholders also spoke of their appreciation to have had assistance in restoring the natural environment on properties. Now is also the time for more young people to get involved in projects, with the next round planned to commence around the electorate of Macquarie—again both in the Hawkesbury and the Blue Mountains.

The Green Army does provide young people across the country with a chance to take part in important environmental and conservation activities while at the same time receive training and skills. Participation is open to a diverse range of young people, including Indigenous Australians, school leavers, gap year students, graduates and job seekers. Participants must be aged between 17 and 24. I encourage the youth of Macquarie to get involved. You never know what you may discover about yourself and the environment.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Whilst I welcome the member for Ryan's motion, this government has no credibility on the environment whatsoever. This is shown with the new Prime Minister continuing a controversial bill that would deny the rights to appeal projects developed on environmental grounds to allow all but those directly impacted with local interests. This denies people, anywhere in Australia—if there was ever an environmental issue about the Great Barrier Reef—not being able to have a say because they were not directly impacted. That legislation is still out there.

Their record is astounding: ranging from moving backwards on climate change, to risking our reputation for outstanding world heritage icons. The government disallowed the endangered community listing of the River Murray from the Darling to sea. The government also went against all reason and all advice and sneakily had the world's largest marine reserve re-proclaimed to undo the management plans that give them affect. So where is this government on the environment? It is nowhere. And whilst we might stand here and say nice things about the Green Army, it is not actually going to resolve the issue in front of us.

My electorate of Chisholm in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne is home to a variety of fantastic environmental groups, including Friends of Damper Creek Reserve, Friends of Scotchmans Creek and Valley Reserve, Friends of Wattle Park and many others. These amazing groups rely solely on volunteers from the community and receive little or no funding from any source—maybe some assistance from Parks Victoria and local council. The Green Army is not the answer to these groups and many of those involved are not young, but they are very enthusiastic and they are looking after the environment magnificently in my community.

The member for Ryan speaks of hundreds of these Green Army projects commencing throughout Australia, but to date none have commenced in my electorate of Chisholm and I have not heard of any being planned in the near future. One was allocated into my electorate, in the Chadstone food bowl project. But, sadly, when the group applied, they did not actually quite comprehend what they were going to be involved in in the overseeing of young people in a work type environment and they actually did not have the resources to dedicate to this sufficiently. They said that they would not take up the grant because they did not believe that they would be giving the best to the young people involved.

Before getting the job, the now Prime Minister promoted widely the need for real action on climate change. Where is he now? Taking action on climate change actually means reducing carbon emissions. It requires pollution levels to be reduced—significantly reduced. Creating a scheme which takes people off social security benefits and employs them into an army of very low-paid workers without any workplace safety, proper training or protection measures and getting them to plant some trees or do some weeding is not, in terms of emission reduction, practical action. Australia needs environmental solutions. We do not need to tanbark the country. The best solution to emission reduction still remains a price on carbon.

I agree with the member for Ryan that it is positive to see young Australians interested and participating in protecting our environment for future generations. Many of them are calling for that now. Labor believes that environmentally based work and training programs can be effective pathways to work for job seekers, as well as providing environmental benefits. Indeed, it was Labor, under the Keating government, who introduced LEAP, the Landcare and Environment Action Program, which was the genesis of many of these projects. But Labor agrees that we need to do everything we can to get people into work. Every individual who can work should be given that chance, but we know that can only happen with the appropriate support and protection.

The Green Army fails, purely on the grounds of human resources. Green Army volunteers will be paid the minimum wage for 30 hours a week. They will no longer be eligible for Centrelink payments and they will also lose any entitlements to rent assistance, healthcare cards and pharmaceutical allowance, leaving them no better off than if they did not volunteer. This, actually, is not assisting them into work and it is not assisting our environment. It is just a nice, packaged-up name with 'army' tagged on to it, which, I think, many young people have some difficulty with.

The government says that Green Army participants will be similar to the thousands of other young Australians who are in vocational training or education. But, unlike trainees or apprenticeships, participants in the Green Army are under the supervision of the Commonwealth and are denied the status of Commonwealth employees. They will be left in no man's land, unprotected by acts that protect other trainees and apprentices and not given real training opportunities. Many of them will not even walk out with a certificate of training to indicate they actually undertook these roles.

While the Labor Party has always supported training and learning opportunities for young people to help them find secure and meaningful employment, this program fails by offering no guarantee that participants will actually receive useful and accredited training to help them find secure future employment. It fails people into the future. Many of them have not transitioned into work and many of them will go through this because they have to or are on no benefits. What we need is real action for young people and real action for our environment.

Karen McNamara (Dobell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I always welcome an opportunity to talk about the Green Army, because it is such a fantastic program. I thank the member for Ryan for bringing this motion to the House and I share her enthusiasm for the positive impact the program is having in our respective electorates. It is wonderful to see generations of young people taking not only a strong interest but also a strong sense of responsibility in the care of our local environment and natural habitats.

Just last week I attended the Wyong Shire Council’s Primary Schools Environment Program Awards ceremony. The program is a Wyong Shire Council initiative and it has been running for the last 27 years. This year's theme was 'All about that waste', encouraging students to consider waste in individual and community contexts and to consider the subsequent impacts on the environment and waste management systems. It was fantastic to see students so involved and aware of their surrounding environment and coming up with their own initiatives on how they can take care of it. I take this opportunity to congratulate The Entrance Public School for taking out the award for overall winner in the large school category, as well as winner of the waste audit and waste management plan; Tacoma public school, runner-up in the overall small school category as well as winner of the student oral presentation performance; Brooke Avenue Public School, runner-up in the large school category as well as winner of the schools eco-tour category; and Warnervale and Woongarrah Public Schools, who also received awards for their outstanding commitment to our local environment.

By providing education and practical hands-on experience through schools, tertiary institutions and at all levels of government, we are seeing our younger generations growing up with a greater awareness and positive attitudes towards caring for our natural environment. The government recognises the importance of harnessing our young people through education and participation and promoting and facilitating grassroots environmental action to affect real changes, which is the reason the Green Army program is specifically geared for young people aged 17 to 24.

The government's Green Army program is proven to be successful. The policy was built on a pre-existing platform from the Howard government which resulted in over 14 million trees being planted and over 50,000 hectares of weeds being cleared amongst other achievements. The coalition government revitalised the proven Howard program. Upon implementation this program has been strong. The evidence across Australia is clear. As it builds to a $700-million, 15,000-strong environmental workforce over the coming years, it will be our largest ever environmental deployment, taking practical and direct action to remediate and regenerate our local environment by employing the people who understand it best, the locals.

Since the launch of the Green Army in Dobell by Minister Hunt, I have visited numerous Green Army sites and met many outstanding participants. Last month I visited the young people involved in the new round of Green Army projects at The Entrance North and Tuggerah Lakes. They were enthusiastic, passionate and dedicated to the restoration project. The Green Army have been involved in removing lantana, improving vegetation and rehabilitating the landscape. They have collected seeds, propagated plants and removed weeds. They have undertaken revegetation of dunes, and installed public access-ways and fencing to reduce the human impact on the dunes and to prevent erosion. They have monitored flora and fauna by establishing photo points and using various surveying techniques.

Along with the practical labour, the Green Army are engaging with and educating the community, by erecting signage, distributing publications and conducting interactive seminars. The Green Army is an outstanding initiative for young people to be trained in environmental conservation under the supervision of approved project hosts. Program participants are paid an allowance during their placement with the Green Army and have an opportunity to formalise their participation with accredited training modules.

As I talk with different young people who are involved with the Green Army team, I am always impressed at their pride in what they are achieving; their self-confidence and their sense of team camaraderie. Many of the participants I have spoken to express a desire to continue working in the fields of conservation, natural resource management and other environmental fields. One recent graduate was beaming as he told me he had joined a Green Army program because he was unemployed, and through his participation he has now gained employment as a landscaper.

Green Army is creating real jobs and making a real difference in young people's lives. And it is generating tangible, environmental and conservation benefits for our community. I look forward to continuing to see the outstanding projects across Dobell in the future.

Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I join with members that have acknowledged the fact that young Australians are very environmentally conscious and I thank the member for Ryan for bringing this motion to the House. Young Australians are interested in protecting our precious natural environment. That is why if you ask young people about climate change they are adamant that climate change is one of the biggest problems facing our society, and that they need governments to listen to what they are saying and to act. They want to make sure that when they have children and grandchildren there will still be an environment to enjoy. If we do not care and protect our environment, then we are doing a great disservice to young Australians, and especially to those young Australians who have been working on the Green Army projects throughout Australia.

The Green Army projects have delivered some real benefits to people who are involved in them. They have made some real changes in the environment in my area. In very little distinct projects that have been conducted it is one tiny aspect of what we as a nation need to do to protect our environment. We need to have strict legislation in place that prohibits the vandalisation of our environment; we need legislation that is not going to get rid of the environmental protection act—giving states the power to make decisions on very important environmental projects. And we need to carefully consider every decision that government takes in relation to that environmental protection. Of course, as I started off saying, no decision is more important than recognising the need to act on climate change and not to put our heads in the sand, because the Green Army will not lead to a change there.

On 29 October, I visited the graduation of two Green Army projects in Shortland. One was the second stage of a bush rehabilitation project on the Lake Munmorah and Budgie Lake foreshore. The young people that were involved in it had worked to combat coastal estuary and bushland degradation and to ensure that the sites had a suitable level of existing and new landcare group volunteers to continue the work—the Green Army working in conjunction with Landcare. It included applying best practice bush regeneration techniques, weeding, planting, erosion control, stormwater treatment, and looking at improving biodiversity and species habitat. That was one project.

The other project was a coastal dune care and lake foreshore project. This is a project I have had a close connection with for many years—not as a Green Army project but through my contact with the Dunecare group who have rehabilitated all the dunes in that area. The Green Army are assisting them to continue what they have been doing: best practice bush regeneration techniques, combined with combating coastal and lake foreshore degradation, undertaking further dune stabilisation and, in general, making sure that the area is enhanced and protected.

I congratulate each and every one of the people who completed and graduated from that program. Many of those involved in the program have degrees and they were using the Green Army projects to hone their skills. However, whilst I laud the projects and I thank from the bottom of my heart those young people who were involved, I call on the government to do much more in the area of environmental protection and caring for the future of Australia. (Time expired)

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

I would like to thank the member for Ryan for this important motion acknowledging the significance and success of the government's Green Army program. The Green Army is a major government commitment with more than $700 million budgeted over four years. It will become Australia's largest ever team-supported environmental action, building to around 15,000 young Australians by 2018. The Green Army provides young people across the country with a chance to take part in important environmental and conservation activities while at the same time receiving training and qualifications.

This year, 2015, has been a fantastic year for the Green Army in my electorate of Macarthur. Over the course of this year, I have had the pleasure of getting to know many young people who have had the courage and tenacity to take part in Macarthur's Green Army. Many of these young people have had difficult upbringings, and the Green Army has offered a positive environment to learn about the importance of conservation and develop a passion for this kind of work. The Green Army participants are supported to work towards certificate I and II qualifications or nationally endorsed skills sets to help them prepare for the workforce and improve their career opportunities. It is crystal clear from talking to people on the ground that the Green Army in Macarthur is making a real difference to the environment and the local community, transforming the lives of these young people by putting them on the right path in life and allowing them to fulfil their potential.

In March this year, Macarthur's first Green Army team graduated at the Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan, marking the achievements of a group of young Australians who have spent six months working on the Cumberland Plain Green Army project. The Australian Botanic Garden woodland regeneration program is of great benefit to the Macarthur region through the conservation of the Cumberland Plain's critically endangered ecological communities. The program focusses on conservation management, restoration and enhancement of the woodland, targeting both the Cumberland Plain Woodlands and the Western Sydney Dry Rainforest remnants, and looking to achieve weed control and assist regeneration and replanting in degraded areas.

Over the past 15 months or so, successive Green Army participants have been highly effective in eradicating invasive weeds such as African olive, Brazilian nightshade and prickly pear from the critically endangered Cumberland Plain Woodlands. In September, the Minister for the Environment, the Hon. Greg Hunt, and I visited the garden to attend a graduation ceremony. It was incredible to see what the participants had learnt, including such things as specialised weed control techniques for use in sensitive bushland, as well as seed collection and plant propagation. It was a special day for the Green Army team and their friends and family, as well as their organisers—in particular project supervisor Jacinta Rheinberger and the Curator Manager of the Australian Botanic Garden, John Siemon, who have passionately supported this programme from the beginning.

I again congratulate the graduates: Amy Peacey, David Lefu, lsaha Wickey, Joshua Araya, Kodi Gaddes, Mark Rutten, Tasman Stoker and Tiffany Bliefnick. These terrific young people gained experience working in an ambitious and productive team environment, which will be invaluable to them as they move on to the next stage of their lives. As Minister Hunt said on the day, 'The team we're celebrating today is yet another example of how the Green Army is making a real difference for the local environment and community. Through their management, restoration and enhancement of the Cumberland Plain, these graduates have made a real difference to the area.'

There are two other Macarthur Green Army projects in operation in Camden and Campbelltown, in addition to the program at the Australian Botanic Garden in Mount Annan. The Campbelltown Green Army project, run by Bridie Gough, is involved in improving biodiversity within key threatened ecological communities in the Campbelltown LGA, such as Cumberland Plain Woodland, Shale Sandstone Transition Forest, River Flat Eucalypt Forest and Sydney Sandstone Iron Bark Forest. This will be achieved through the control of weeds of national significance, noxious weeds and environmental weeds; removal of gross pollutant waste; and revegetation activities. Participants are undertaking water quality monitoring using the council's bushcare water quality testing kits on a bi-monthly basis at Smiths Creek Reserve and Fishers Ghost Reserve, and gaining nursery related skills through training at Wollondilly Council Community Nursery.

Camden's Green Army participants have been busy creating habitat for a national vulnerable species, Camden white gum, by removing 2.4 hectares of its main threat, privet, and planting 1,000 plants, including 50 Camden white gums. The team were tasked with removing 8.85 hectares of African olive and African boxthorn in the Cumberland Plain Woodland at Gundungurra Reserve and at Elizabeth Throsby and Charles Throsby reserves. At the end of last month I had the pleasure of meeting the team and handing out certificates at the Camden Green Army's inaugural graduation. I was told by supervisors Adam Wood and Lachlan Baird that two people from this small team had already found jobs and that the others were in a much better position thanks to this great program. They explained that the community were quickly becoming aware of how good the program is and that, in the short time their project had been in operation, they had seen a dramatic increase in enquiries about joining Macarthur's Green Army. This year, 2015, has been an incredibly productive year for the Green Army in Macarthur. I look forward to these projects building on their success next year and beyond.

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I agree with the first part of the motion. I acknowledge that many young Australians are environmentally conscious and interested in protecting our precious natural environment. That is very true to say of many young people in my electorate. I ask every school group that comes to visit us here in parliament from my electorate what they would do if they were the Prime Minister of this country—what their key policies would be. Without a doubt in every school group, whether it be a primary school or secondary school, the students have said they would do more for the environment—that they believe in climate change and that they want this House to do more to protect the environment. So it is an issue that young people are passionate about. In fact young people have always been passionate about the environment. In my day, when I was growing up in Queensland on the Sunshine Coast, the environment and landcare was one of the early experiences that I had around campaigning and around grassroots activism. From the sixties and seventies it continued to be an issue. Young Australians have always been passionate about the environment.

What I disagree with in this motion is the suggestion that the skills people gain from being involved in the Green Army can lead to job opportunities. What jobs? Rather than having a policy that is focused on creating and securing jobs for young people, this government has disguised itself by saying that the Green Army will deliver the skills young people need. This is not an apprenticeship. This is not a plan to help a graduate recruitment system. What the government has done through the Green Army has taken money out of landcare and put it into the Green Army at the expense of a number of local landcare groups. It has said that it is a job opportunity—it will give young people from the ages of 17 to 24 an opportunity to gain skills that could lead to employment. Perhaps it will lead to employment in land management. Perhaps it will lead to employment within the Department of Agriculture or the Water Commission. It would be a bit hard to get a job in those areas, given that this government has sacked so many people working in these particular agencies.

What young people need is a serious plan from this government on how they are going to create real job opportunities, particularly for people in regional areas. In my own electorate youth unemployment is up. In areas like Townsville and in other parts of regional Australia, youth unemployment is up. The only solution the government has put forward is, 'That's okay—get some work experience with the Green Army.' It is simply not good enough.

What is also disappointing is that a large chunk of the funding for this program, $700 million, came directly from Landcare. In its first budget this government cut almost $500 million of funding from Landcare—almost a third of the funding that was cut. Yes, there is still $1 billion for Landcare based projects, but the bulk of the cuts to Landcare came from competitive grants rounds, where small community Landcare groups were able to apply for grassroots projects. This affected Landcare groups in my electorate, groups that were doing much needed work to help restore country, groups like the Golden Point Landcare group, the Newham and District Landcare Group, the Woodend Landcare group, the Castlemaine group, the Kyneton group—all of whom are working hard to restore rivers, waterways and land and ensure that we have good sound environmental landcare policy going forward. Many of these groups did not partner with local Green Army projects. They said that the requirements for local Landcare groups were too great. Instead they have gone back to good old-fashioned fundraising through sausage sizzles, doorknocks and subscriptions to try and get the money they need to purchase the equipment, plants and whatever else they need to complete their local projects.

Of course, it was not just Landcare that suffered from the funding cuts of this government. There have been huge cuts in regional Australia. Apart from slashing the Landcare scheme, this government also cut over 500 jobs from the CSIRO—people who were doing vital work in partnership with regional communities and Landcare groups, whether it was on soil, safe foods or work with our farmers. This government has its priorities wrong. The Green Army is a scheme that is not delivering for the environment the way that it could be, like our Landcare groups. It is also a weak excuse for a decent youth jobs policy.

Debate adjourned.