Senator Nita Green speaks on working with Crisafulli government and importance of Indigenous Rangers
Senator Nita Green announced the Albanese Government would invest $355 million for 1000 new jobs in the Indigenous Rangers program and spoke on working with new LNP state government.
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Special Envoy for the Great Barrier Reef, Senator Nita Green, says she’s ready to work with the Crisafulli Government and doesn’t feel threatened by the Katter’s plan to challenge the new parliament on reef regulations.
At a party level, KAP leader Robbie Katter indicated he might introduce policies to protect primary industries and address core ethical issues.
“A lot of stuff that’s gone in before would be a good start,” Katter said.
“It would be interesting to test the new parliament on commercial fishing, I’ve got my Babies Born Alive bill to put back in, Blue Card bill to put back in, and we might, we could, test reef regulations, vegetation management.”
“It would be good to test something on water allocations and water infrastructure.”
In Townsville, Senator Green recently announced an expansion of the Indigenous Rangers Program across regional Queensland, promising an additional 1,000 ranger positions.
“That means nationally, we’re delivering $355 million to expand our range of programs across the country,” she said.
Ms Green emphasised the importance of Indigenous Sea and Land Rangers in environmental protection and expressed a desire to see more female rangers.
“There’s a lot of female rangers already out there, working on land and sea country, but we want to give that an extra boost,” she said.
Federal Labor candidate for Herbert, Edwina Andrew, expressed enthusiasm about the program’s expansion.
“I’ve seen it in action on Magnetic Island, I’ve seen it in action around the Townsville region. I lived on Magnetic Island for some time, which I absolutely loved, and just seeing that sharing of knowledge between the traditional owners, the ones that have had that knowledge for 60,000 years, passing on that love and custodianship of that land to the rangers that were currently employed on the island was just incredible to see,” she said.
Mrs Andrew, who has a background in community work, said she is actively preparing for the upcoming federal election, focusing on cost-of-living issues.
“I understand the struggles that people are experiencing at the moment, and stay tuned, because there’s some pretty big conversations we’ll be having around those areas,” she said.
When asked about Premier David Crisafulli’s commitment to end Queensland’s truth-telling inquiry, Senator Green said it was something that needed to be an “ongoing conversation”.
While she acknowledged the new government’s clear stance on treaty, she urged them to consider keeping elements that benefit the community, especially ensuring First Nations voices are heard.
“I think a broader conversation with the community about what parts of this process could still provide some benefit,” she said.
“Whether that’s just consulting with groups, making sure that our First Nations communities do have a say at the table of government, that is something that should be an ongoing conversation with any government, no matter who’s in the Premier’s chair.”
Following the state election which saw Labor’s three MPs removed from their seats, Senator Green said she “preferred to have a variety of voices at different levels of government”.
“We are going to work with the new state government to deliver for Townsville and for the North Queensland region, no matter who is in government, that is a priority, but ultimately, it’s about listening to the community,” she said.
“They’ve had some strong views about some very important issues, and so the next couple of weeks and months isn’t really about asking them to vote a certain way; it’s about listening to what they want.”
Senator Green also hopes the LNP “sticks to their word” and warned against rolling back reef regulations, noting the community likely wouldn’t support it.
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