Page 1997 - Week 07 - Thursday, 24 June 2021
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proportion of total area, than the ACT. Namadgi National Park, plus an interconnected network of parks and reserves all over the territory, make up over 65 per cent of the ACT.
Our parks conserve a diverse array of our most loved, unusual, most endangered plants and animals. They bear witness to a rich and varied human history which has been guided over thousands of years by the hand of the Ngunnawal people. They provide the drinking water on which we depend and provide an iconic backdrop to our city. The enjoyment our parks provide to so many of our residents and visitors is difficult to truly quantify.
At the conservation heart of the ACT lies our own Namadgi National Park. Lying almost at the northern limit of an unbroken chain of alpine environments, collectively termed the Australian Alps national parks, Namadgi National Park protects over 100,000 hectares of high country, afforded National Heritage status.
Today its distinctive rocky peaks are revered by the traditional owners of Namadgi, the Ngunnawal, as they were by their ancestors before them. Of the many sites in Namadgi that bear witness to a long history of human habitation, few are as impressive as the Yankee Hat rock shelter with its canvas of rock art, a rare find in the Australian Alps.
Namadgi National Park has been shaped by the elements for millions of years. But today the park has to contend with the effects of human-induced climate change. I have spoken in this chamber before about the bushfires that burnt over 80 per cent of Namadgi in February 2020 and the severe storms that followed. Namadgi is resilient and today we see large areas of recovery in the park.
However, science tells us that the rapid onset of climate change may overwhelm some park habitats. A warming climate will push the snowline higher and expose the park to more severe weather events on a more frequent basis, including potentially more severe fire events. Our park managers recognise that they will come under greater pressure to manage these impacts and to maintain park infrastructure and safe public access to the park.
Guided by our bushfire and flood recovery plan, the sustained and relentless efforts of our staff to recover Namadgi over the last 18 months have yielded incredible results. When we embarked on the recovery program more than 18 months ago, we committed to a number of principles, the most significant of which were to genuinely engage the Ngunnawal community and Canberra’s volunteer community in restoration and adopt a “build back better” approach to replacing damaged infrastructure.
Currently, an important consultation on planning is occurring with the traditional custodian community around the Yankee Hat art site. This process will take time, given the significance of the site and the importance of achieving an outcome that balances the need to preserve the site’s values and provide opportunities for the public to learn about and appreciate the past, present and ongoing connection that the community has with this place.
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