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As we write the Federal Parliament has passed amendments to federal environment legislation. There are some improvements and some big holes and some real risks. Rangers and Indigenous Protected Areas deliver great work managing Country but it shouldn’t be up to them alone. Biodiversity underpins culture. Bush tucker, bush medicine, sacred sites, rivers, wetlands, Sea Country. We’ll be keeping a close eye of how this delivers or fails where it counts, out on Country.
As usual it’s been a busy few months for the CNP team since our last newsletter. Our mix of work always includes three elements:
Organisations on the frontline
For a relatively small organisation we have an outsized positive impact on the sector. But we are always aware that the hardest jobs are done by those organisations at the frontline of Indigenous land and sea management that run Ranger teams, manage Indigenous Protected Areas, and work hard to make sure their communities are able to conduct modern land and sea management in a way that protects biodiversity while respecting connection to Country and culturally informed decision making. That will look very different from one local area to another - from the urban environment to the remote bush, although similar themes apply across Australia.
We’re proud to be able to connect to and work with partners across Australia in many different contexts and strengthen their ability to deliver for their communities. Our practical work recently has seen us helping partners consider development of new Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs) or review their existing IPA operations, to provide bespoke advice and mentoring around day-to-day land and sea management operations and structure of Indigenous Ranger teams.
From Victoria to the Pilbara
This last quarter we’ve run workshops to deepen connections around Indigenous land and sea management and produced public information events around Indigenous Protected Areas and Indigenous Rangers in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne, that foreground our partners. We’ve also ensured our partners are well supported with resources to improve their own communication of their work to the wider public and more.
Two of our team have just returned from a very successful meeting of the Pilbara Ranger Network, helping to advise the growing number of Ranger teams there on how to build a strong operation. We’re pleased to see some of those groups gaining funding from the jobs growth we’ve advocated for with our partners.
It was great in this period to be able to run a workshop in Victoria for several of our network partners. Like all states and territories, Victoria has a particular context for its land and sea management work, and groups were able to discuss their operations and relationships with stakeholders like researchers, parks agencies and government. At the workshop we were pleased to have a visit also from the new CEO of the First Peoples Assembly of Victoria and former Gunditjmara land manager, Damein Bell, who will be working hard along with many of our partner groups to see the promise of the new Victorian treaty framework delivered.
Job roll-out
This year has been a huge year of delivery for our advocacy work with the doubling of federally funded Indigenous Ranger jobs starting to roll out nationally from two rounds of funding. The second round was announced recently with $190M investment and 900 new jobs announced in 82 separate areas. We’re excited to see some of the new and expanded groups that will get to take up this opportunity, but very concerned that the Federal Government is not providing enough informed departmental support to ensure the rollout is a success. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this going forward with your support.
Queensland support out in front
We’re also pleased to see the incoming LNP Government in Queensland sticking to its commitment to roll out new community based Indigenous Ranger jobs in that state. As we’ve often mentioned, this program is the nationally-leading example of government support for Ranger teams, whereby the QLD environment department has a dedicated capacity support unit for QLD Rangers. This is something the Federal Government had in place over a decade ago too, but bizarrely dismantled under previous administrations. It now urgently needs rebuilding to ensure the quantity of federal funding they are rolling out is supported by quality of delivery so that we set groups up to thrive, not to fail or just barely survive.
Thank you for your ongoing support
We know with the right support Traditional Owners can deliver top quality land and sea management that benefits every Australian.
Thanks for your ongoing support to help us continue to advocate for better quantity, quality and security of government support for Indigenous Rangers and IPAs across the board.
-Paddy O'Leary, CEO
Banner Image: Robbie Farnham of Lake Tyers Aboriginal Trust at CNP Victoria Indigenous Land & Sea Management Workshop. Photo: Annette Ruzicka.
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.
