Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) under the cover of the United States of America's elections and the Melbourne Cup, the Victorian Government through Parks Victoria have declared they will close certain areas of Mount Arapiles in the Wimmera region for rock climbing due to cultural heritage concerns;

(b) local residents and rock climbing enthusiasts from around the nation are outraged by the decision, particularly as a prime Australian rock climbing destination and the potential devastating impact on the small community of Natimuk;

(c) on Monday, 18 November 2024, Parks Victoria Chief Executive Officer, Matthew Jackson told an inquiry that Parks Victoria does not consult on cultural heritage laws and had no obligation to consider its decision's economic impact on local communities; and

(d) doctors, nurses and allied health practitioners have been attracted to the region, including nearby Horsham, due to the availability of rock climbing and are now reconsidering whether to settle or remain in the region; and

(2) calls upon the:

(a) Commonwealth Government to explain its position on cultural heritage matters that are delivering gross inequities for the majority of Australians; and

(b) Victorian State Government to:

(i) genuinely consult with all stakeholders on the decision; and

(ii) ensure all established climbing routes at Mount Arapiles remain in force until such consultation has occurred; and

(3) reminds all levels of Government that on 14 October 2023 regional Victorians and Australians united and conclusively voted 'no' to this form of division in the Australian community.

Earlier today in my constituency statement I shared excerpts of the views of Natimuk locals on the Victorian government's proposal to ban rock climbing on a large portion of Mount Arapiles, near Natimuk in my electorate of Mallee. Locals fear the ban spells the death of Natimuk, and tragically many that live there will now leave the area if the bans stand.

Mount Arapiles is considered an international mecca for rock climbers. Some even profess a spiritual bond with the mountain. It is where rock climbers have developed techniques to protect the rock face that have been adopted throughout the world to preserve the surface for future generations. The Allan Labor government would have known this if they had consulted with the rock-climbing community. This is where the federal minister would do well to establish protocols on cultural heritage, so we don't see more public land in Australia locked up for the enjoyment, or even profit, of a select few.

As shadow assistant minister for regional health, I want to speak to paragraph 1(d) of this motion on the health impacts. First, I'll quote Dr Felix Ritson from Natimuk. He said to me:

I am a GP registrar employed at Lister House Clinic focusing on mental health (including youth mental health), addiction and chronic pain.

[There are] 3 GPs employed at Lister House Clinic, another GP at Goolum Goolum and the only local medical specialist (a Neurologist) moved to the Wimmera for its climbing access.

I know of 3 medical officers that were planning to move to the Wimmera to work as General Practitioners for its climbing, and have spoken to several other doctors who have expressed similar interest. After discussions with them this week I am doubtful they will still choose to move here.

2 of the local clinical psychologists are rock climbers. I know of a clinical psychologist who was planning to move to the Wimmera due to the climbing.

There are several nurses that moved to the area for climbing, and I know of an experienced mental health nurse and a new trainee registered nurse that were planning on likewise moving here for the climbing access.

Amanda Wilson, the CEO of Lister House Medical Clinic, echoed Dr Litson's concerns about losing their workforce, saying:

I point out Australian graduates because they are RARE to get into a rural community.

We also have a neurologist ([rare as] hens teeth to get to a rural area) here for the climbing, and MANY other professionals such as Nurses, Optometrists, physiotherapists, and allied health such as clinical psychologists.

These people have moved here BECAUSE of the climbing. I cannot implore you enough to stop this ban and create an inclusive space for everyone. We are going to lose a large portion of our medical community. It is hard enough to get a GP to a rural town, and to think we will have the MAIN reason they have come to this community, is going to be taken away.

Dr Alex MacAdam from Adelaide, wrote to me:

As a medical doctor, it has been my plan to move to the Wimmera in order to balance those two fields in which I have dedicated my life—medicine and climbing. I was in the market to buy a home in Natimuk, and work as an Emergency Department Doctor in Horsham, to dedicate my skills to the region. Unfortunately, I am now rethinking these plans, entirely due to the impending rock climbing bans at Mount Arapiles. I know of at least 20 other young professionals (doctors, teachers, and lawyers) who are in a similar situation to myself. These closures are not good for the region as a whole and will lead to a mass exodus of skilled professionals.

This is an absolute tragedy for the region of Wimmera and I urge federal and state Labor governments to save our health workforce and consult better with those who love Mount Arapiles.

Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for the motion?

Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

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

I am surprised this motion is before us here in the federal parliament. It is a matter that is entirely for the Victorian state government. It surprises me that we are debating this topic today. Sometimes you will have these debates in the leadup to a state election, where friendly fellow-travellers of a political party may try and use the floor of parliament to score a few points for their allies in their community, but we are not due for a state election in Victoria until November 2026. So it does surprise me that we are here today debating a matter that is entirely the responsibility of the Victorian government.

But it does give me an opportunity to talk about the great work the Commonwealth—the federal government—is doing for national and marine parks. After a wasted decade, the environment is back under Labor, and we are prioritising making sure we are doing our bit to protect our natural environment. You could say it was a wasted decade or that there were deliberate decisions made by the previous government to destroy our natural environment.

We are working to protect more of our natural environment. Since coming to government, we have doubled the funding to better look after our Commonwealth national parks, including Kakadu and Uluru, after the Liberals—to be frank—let them fall apart. The parts the Commonwealth manage in national parks have been closed to visitors because they were unsafe. Roofs were coming off buildings, alarming crocodile warning signs were missing or broken. We, in government, have made sure we have corrected this through infrastructure grants and supporting the community to get these areas back to being safe for visitors.

We've also added new areas to Kakadu National Park, extending the area of protection. It's not just Kakadu. We've tripled the size of the Macquarie Island Marine Park, the biggest act of conservation in 2023. We've quadrupled the size of the Heard and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve, the biggest contribution to ocean conservation on the planet this year. This is what our government, an Australian government, has done. These decisions now mean that Australia's protecting more oceans than any other country on Earth. We've also voted to ratify the High Seas Treaty, which helps protect seas and waters beyond our own. Our natural environment is so precious, and as the King himself said in an address here in this building, it is upon our generation as leaders to protect and support the environment for future generations and it is a moral duty to do so.

On cultural heritage: back in 2020, all of us remember the devastation and the tragedy of a 46,000-year-old Aboriginal sacred site being destroyed by a mining company. It was tragic and, sadly, legal. The Australian people were quietly outraged and appalled. And since then, all political parties have said that this tragedy should never be allowed to happen again.

There were two parliamentary inquiries chaired by the Liberal member for Leichhardt. Both inquiries recommended updating the national laws to better protect First Nations heritage. Work on updating the national laws was started by the previous Liberal government and has been continued by this government. We are consulting carefully on updating cultural heritage laws.

As usual, the draft laws will be released for public comment. There will be the standard parliamentary inquiries, and everyone will be given the opportunity to have their say. This is about updating our existing national laws to make sure a tragedy like what we saw in 2020 doesn't happen again. Our goal is to have laws that better protect First Nations heritage whilst giving businesses, farmers and others more certainty, and we believe we can do both by working together.

A final comment I wish to make is to remind members of the coalition, particularly Victorian members of the coalition, that this is the federal parliament, and we should really do our best to stay in our lane. The times we have to stand on our feet to debate matters that this parliament can address are limited, so let's focus on federal laws, federal changes and ways in which we can better support our environment at a federal level.

Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Every day in this place it becomes clearer and clearer that regional Australians are simply worse off under this spineless Labor government. I have noted before the remarkable similarities between the new, modern Labor Party and jellyfish. It's quite extraordinary. It is a scientific fact: jellyfish have no brains, no backbone, no heart and no stomach. When it comes to standing up to extremism in the Greens, standing up for working families, standing up for blue-collar workers and farmers, I have never seen a more gutless government.

Old Labor members would not even recognise this blubbering mess of a political party that has completely lost its spine when it comes to regional Australians. Now, I'm afraid that the Labor Party—the new, modern Labor Party—foolishly believes that you can placate the agreements and the activists, but I need to let them know and warn them: they will never be satisfied and they are always going to come back for more. They have no concept of practical environmental management. Zealotry and extremism have become their modus operandi at the expense of regional jobs, our way of life and our culture. Yes, European Australians, non-Indigenous Australians, have culture as well. That should be respected and recognised when we make laws in this place or in other places around the country.

What we're seeing now is the modern Labor Party selling out blue collar workers for Greens preferences right across the nation. If you are a farmer or a miner or if you like camping, fishing, hunting, collecting firewood, occasionally betting on a horserace or generally enjoying a free life outdoors, Labor and the Greens simply don't like you. Between them, they have combined to ban rock climbing at Mount Arapiles, ban live sheep exports, ban the hardwood timber industry in Victoria, ban irrigated agriculture in many areas, ban firewood collection, ban new gas connections, ban grazing in the high country and ban commercial fishing, and they also want to ban duck shooting and horseracing. Labor keeps wanting to create more national parks across our country, both at land and at sea, banning more activities in rural and regional Australia, when they don't even look after the national parks they've got today.

In relation to the motion moved by the member for Mallee, it's just the latest example of an all-or-nothing approach by the Labor Greens movement. Mount Arapiles, as we have just heard from the member for Mallee, offers world-class climbing, and it's part of the attraction, for skilled health workers in this case, to live and work in the region.

Decisions made in this parliament and other parliaments have consequences, and what we are seeing now is that people who want to enjoy that rural way of life, to enjoy Mount Arapiles and all it offers, will leave the region because of a decision made by the Labor Party, backed by the Greens. And not a single member of this place ever stands up and shows the spine to contest this extremism in the green movement. We will see more of this if the Labor Greens return to government next year in this place. Instead of a balanced approach, which allows for a multi-use of land and sea resources, they adopt this 'lock it up and leave it' mentality, and they couldn't care less about the impacts on the country people and their way of life.

I have seen it firsthand in my seat of Gippsland over the last 12 months with the complete ban on the native hardwood timber industry. The skilled workforce and forest contractors needed in the next bushfire season won't be there because of this ban. My community will be left at the mercy of poorly maintained public forests. The state government is making no efforts to mitigate the risk and has just cut its workforce in both DEECA and Parks Victoria. What we need to see in our regional communities are the practical environmentalists: more boots and less suits. That's more boots on the ground doing the work, doing the fire prevention mitigation activities, and less suits in Melbourne and Canberra making excuses and putting in more green tape that prevents work from occurring in the first place.

So if we're going to have any bans in this place, perhaps we should ban the Labor Greens from banning anything else in regional Australia without first consulting with the community that's going to be adversely affected—affected socially, economically, environmentally and culturally. Deputy Speaker Archer, I know you come from a regional community, and I think you probably understand this as much as I do. Regional workers are tired of being told what jobs they can have and what they are not allowed to do on their weekends by these city-based Labor Green politicians who have no interest in ever living in our communities in the first place. Regional Australians will be better off when we get rid of this spineless government and stand up to the extremists in the Greens.

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to follow the member for Gippsland, and before him the member for Mallee, because the Victorian Labor government's decision is extraordinary. You would think that a state government that is broke and is about to go into official receivership would be doing everything it could, when it had an asset, to ensure that it got the balance right with the decisions it made. You'd think that, if there was a need to protect something for cultural heritage, you'd be able to do it in balance in a unique rock climbing part of the globe where people from overseas go their hundreds to rock climb. Yet the wherewithal of the Allan Labor government meant they did nothing of the sort. What they did was just say no without any consultation: 'We are going to close this unique area of rock climbing.'

Now, I love the Grampians, and one of the fantastic things I have been able to contribute is $10 million for the wonderful Grampians Peak Trail. I love the fact that people can explore the Grampians, but also do so in a very respectful way, knowing and understanding the cultural heritage of the place.

But what has occurred with Mount Arapiles is nothing short of a disgrace. The Allan Labor government needs to have a good hard look at itself, because simply shutting something down without consultation, especially without consultation of the rock climbing industry, is a disaster. Now, you've got to remember that the rock climbing industry are not people who seek in any way not to understand the environment they are climbing on, not to understand the cultural heritage of the place, or not to want to work with the local Indigenous groups to make sure that they get the right balance that would respect those unique cultural heritage places but also enable rock climbing on one of the great rock climbing peaks in the world. People have built businesses around it. People have come to live in that area so they can climb Mount Arapiles. Yet what did the Allan Labor government do? Without consultation, they just shut it down.

The thing that was the most damning, which showed you what an appalling decision it was, was when the environment minister, Steve Dimopoulos, went up to the area and did a radio interview on ABC. He was asked about the decision to close Mount Arapiles, and he'd done so little research on what had occurred that he couldn't even pronounce 'Mount Arapiles'. Now, if you're going to do something that impacts like that, at least have the decency to go up there, talk to the community, understand its importance and make sure you know, inside and out. what is taking place, instead of just going up there and basically treating the local community with complete and utter disrespect.

The worst thing about this is that it sends a signal to the rest of the state of Victoria as to what could be next from this Victorian Labor state government. At the moment they're going through treaty negotiations. and once again we are getting no transparency about what is occurring there. There is no broad community consultation about what's going on. If what has happened at Mount Arapiles is any indication of what might happen with the broader negotiations, then we're going to see the rest of Victoria treated with complete and utter disrespect.

So, I 100 per cent back this motion from the member for Mallee. We need this reopened. We need the federal Labor government to step in and ask serious questions of the state Labor government and for the state Labor government to do proper consultation with the local community on this.

Debate adjourned.