THE HON MINISTER PLIBERSEK MP
MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

ABC GOLDFIELDS

TUESDAY, 27 SEPTEMBER 2022

SUBJECT: DEDICATION OF ANANGU TJUTAKU INDIGENOUS PROTECTED AREA

TERI CAMPBELL, HOST: A ceremony near the remote Tjuntjuntjara community in the Great Victoria Desert will take place today to celebrate Australia’s third largest Indigenous Protected Area. The protected area is larger than Tasmania and covers 9.7 million hectares on the native lands of the Spinifex, Pilki and Unitiri Pulka peoples. Minister for Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek joins me now. Good morning, Ms Plibersek.

TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Good morning, Teri. It's lovely to be with you.

CAMPBELL: Thank you. Now, can you take me through what's happening today and why is it so significant?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, this is a very significant ceremony today. It's the formal dedication of this new Indigenous Protected Area. And some of this has been held up due to COVID. So it's a great opportunity for people to get together to acknowledge the addition of this Indigenous Protected Area to our national estate. Sadly, I can't be there. I was going to be, but Parliament's sitting in Canberra. The sitting dates were changed because of the Queen's death, and so I'm stuck in Canberra. But there will be people from a big part of WA travelling to this very special place. This is an area, it's the third largest Indigenous Protected Area, as you said, 9.7 million hectares. That's an area larger than Tasmania. And the fact that this area is going to be protected is really important for the conservation values of the area. It means that a number of species that are otherwise under real stress will have protection there. It means that traditional owners will be able to work on the land, controlling weeds and controlling feral animals and be properly remunerated for doing that. And it means that we're adding to our national estate. We've got a goal as a new government; we've got a goal of protecting 30 per cent of our land and 30 per cent of our oceans by 2030. So adding a significant area like this makes a big difference to that objective.

CAMPBELL: Yeah, and it comes with a few other areas that are being protected as well. But why was it particularly important for this area near Tjuntjuntjara to be protected and to be celebrated today?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, this area has really important threatened species on it, like the great desert skink, the curlew sandpiper, the greater bilby, the black-flanked wallaby, and making sure that we've got this large area under protection, under proper weed management, fire management, management of feral species. Just gives a little bit of hope for the future that these species and these precious landscapes can be protected.

CAMPBELL: And you mentioned as well that traditional owners and First Nations people will be able to work on these lands. I believe this encompasses a type of ranger programme in these protected areas. Can you take me through these?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah, absolutely. Well, the first thing to say is Indigenous Protected Areas are a great way of looking after land. And that's why the new Labor Government is increasing funding for Indigenous protected areas by $10 million a year. So we can add new areas like this to the national estate, but they work best when they're being looked after in partnership with Indigenous Ranger Programs. And Labor also has a commitment to double the number of Indigenous Rangers by the end of the decade. So that means traditional owners who are paid for feral animal eradication, weed management, fire management, all of those things that we know protect the natural environment and set it up for the future, make it more resilient.

CAMPBELL: Why do you think it is so important that these kind of programs exist?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, we saw the State of the Environment Report released a couple of months ago and that State of the Environment Report was kept secret by the previous Government. They had it for six months before the change of Government. They didn't release it because what that State of the Environment report told us is that the Australian environment is bad and getting worse. We are the mammal extinction capital of the world. We've now got more introduced plant species than native plant species. If we don't start to turn around these trends, the landscapes, the animals that we care about, we're going to lose them. I mean, I could never imagine when I was growing up that the Koalas would be endangered on the Eastern Seaboard as they are now. Bushfires, climate change, drought, flood, all of these have been getting worse in recent years and they've taken their toll.

CAMPBELL: And, yeah, looking around the rest of the Goldfields and even the Esperance Region as well, would you say there are more Indigenous Protected Areas to come in the region that I'm speaking to you from?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, I hope that there will be more Indigenous Protected Areas in Western Australia. I hope there will be in other parts of Australia as well. I'm not going to pre-empt where they might be because it's important to have really good, thorough discussions with traditional owners and with other landholders before we make any decisions.

CAMPBELL: Minister Plibersek, thank you so much for joining us this morning. And, yeah, sounds like it's going to be a historic day in the Tjuntjuntjara.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Absolutely historic day and a great contribution to Australia's natural environment. Thanks for having me.

END