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Some more steps forward…and one backwards in the Northern Territory. It seems like yesterday since I wrote the last rundown back in March - so much has happened since then. In March we ran a very successful workshop for new and emerging Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs) at Old Parliament House in Canberra.
IPAs take a lot of planning, consultation and careful governance work to create, and an equal amount of energy to run. So it was really good to see many of our partner groups who could make it to Canberra presenting on the features, biodiversity, cultural values and progress they were making on their IPA, whether they were still in the planning stage or relatively newly operational.
As usual we invited pollies of all backgrounds to attend and were happy to receive visits from both Minister Malarndirri McCarthy as well as former Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek who used the workshop to restate her government’s commitment to new spending on protected areas of $250M of which a portion will be for new IPAs. We already have a meeting request in to the new Environment Minister Murray Watt following the election.
We had over 20 groups attend from all around Australia from so many different contexts - from the remote deserts, to Cape York, Pilbara, and South Eastern Australia. The exchange focused on practical matters in improving IPA management and setup, and groups learned from seeing how other IPAs are tackling local management needs.
Of course in March the Federal Election was called and we made sure that the issue of funding, security and support for Indigenous Rangers and Indigenous Protected Areas was heard by every politician and candidate we could reach through our national petition. As you know, the result was fairly evident but we did manage to get clear positive statements from the incoming government, the Greens and many of the independent candidates. We look forward now to working with the new government to further strengthen the sector.
Unfortunately we had a backwards move in the Northern Territory with the delivery of the NT Budget. Back in 2016 we advocated successfully for a NT Aboriginal Ranger Grants program which since then has delivered on average $3M per year of funding for practical needs of NT Ranger teams such as work sheds, quad bikes, vehicles, project funds, research support, monitoring equipment, safety gear and other needs. This helped local ranger teams be much more effective in their work and is highly valued.
To our enormous disappointment, and despite their clear election promise to continue this funding, the CLP Government in the Territory reneged on their promise in their first budget, and entirely cut the NT Aboriginal Ranger Grants program, removing $12M that would otherwise have been available to Ranger teams across the Territory.
We are now working with our NT partners to highlight this broken promise and to lead a call for restoration of these funds to the budget. This is about supporting positive, community-based work across the Territory, stronger environmental management and perhaps most importantly, is about governments acting with integrity and following through on their very clear, very unambiguous promises.
We have started a petition for NT residents to sign, spoken to the media to highlight this broken promise and intend to keep holding the Territory Government to account.
Living in the NT?
It’s important for all of us that governments invest in high value public initiatives like Indigenous Rangers, and that they know they will hear from us, with your support, if they break their word. We will not be letting this go. Thanks for your support.
Banner Image: Traditional Owner Otto Campion of Arafura Swamp Rangers, CNP Workshop 2025. Photo: Paul Chapman.
We pay our respects to all the First Nations people around Australia and their unbroken commitment to keep Country strong on land and sea. We acknowledge Indigenous partners, Traditional Owners, Elders past, present and emerging and extend our appreciation of their support and guidance of our daily work.
