Page 3420 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 11 October 1994
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this is a quite important MPI. I hope that it gains recognition by those people who report this place, not necessarily for the individual people talking but for the concepts that have been discussed this afternoon. I suppose that it will fall on deaf ears to an extent. It will not be regarded by the media as a sexy issue in terms of the conflict, mayhem and consternation that at times they like to report from this place, or to build out of this place; but it is one of the essential elements, I believe, in why Canberrans call Canberra home.
MR WOOD (Minister for Education and Training, Minister for the Arts and Heritage and Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning) (4.19): Madam Speaker, I thank members for their contribution. I think the balance of that contribution reflects the very great importance that the Government gives to our environment, and to the maintenance and protection of it, and the relative lack of interest that the Opposition has in such a matter. Mr Lamont mentioned a minute ago that this was not a sexy issue. I believe that it is a very important issue in Canberra. Can you imagine the fuss if we went out there and said that we were going to build on top of a hill somewhere? The fact is that we have accommodated the wishes of Canberrans and seen that Canberra, under our jurisdiction, has been enhanced as the bush capital of Australia.
My last political activity in the city of Cairns in North Queensland before becoming a refugee to Canberra was to engage in a fight to stop the tops of hills being knocked off and used to fill up the swamps so that houses could be built on both the flattened hills and the filled swamps. I came to Canberra and it was a joy to see that respect was paid to our hills. However, it was only with the gazettal of the Territory Plan, not long ago now, that the hills were firmly given the protection of nature parks. That, I think, was a very important event and, perhaps like other environmental things, it was not particularly seized upon by the media. We do need this protection for our hills that we now have. The 25 separate parts that make up the totality of Canberra Nature Park are now fully protected. As with the Jerrabomberra Wetlands, we are increasingly developing management plans for these important areas.
A great deal of the focus today has been on ecotourism. Members obviously are indicating the importance that they attach to that. They have indicated in the debate that they support that concept. I am sure that they would all be saying that we support that concept of ecotourism, providing that our nature parks and Namadgi are protected in the process. So important is it that a month or two months ago I took myself off and had a very careful look at some aspects of ecotourism in the Northern Territory. I might not always agree with some of the political judgments of the Northern Territory Government; but I have to say that what they are doing with their national parks, and what the Commonwealth is also doing in the Northern Territory, is truly outstanding. I learnt up there that you can operate ecotourism, you can use your environment for tourism purposes, and still maintain that environment. I see Mrs Carnell nodding. I have to say that before I went there I was a sceptic. Before I went to the Northern Territory I did not think that I would want to see tourism facilities in Namadgi National Park. That was my attitude before I went. After a very careful examination up there, I came back with a considerably changed view. I came back saying that it can be done and, indeed, as part of that process, we can even add to what happens there. So, we can have tourism activity around our nature park. Obviously, all will agree that it has to be done very carefully, very sensitively, so as not to cause damage to what we regard as important areas.
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