National park estate review to strengthen quality land protections

National Parks Minister Steve Dickson has announced more than $25 million will be invested in Queensland’s national parks next year, while a scientific review of the national park estate will see better management and protection of pristine areas.

Mr Dickson said the Newman Government’s 2013-2014 Budget included a $25.8 million spend on national parks capital works, including $6.3 million towards improving visitor access across the state.

“We’re investing $2.2 million for upgrades to some of Queensland’s most popular visitor centres at Carnarvon National Park, Mon Repos in Bundaberg, the David Fleay Wildlife Park on the Gold Coast and Walkabout Creek in Brisbane,” Mr Dickson said.

“The Newman Government is clearly focused on providing greater ecotourism opportunities for all Queensland residents and visitors to enjoy.”

Mr Dickson said the former Labor Government locked up huge tracts of land in a tokenistic bid to reach a percentage target which had nothing to do with land quality, but had instead been a desperate attempt to lock in Greens preferences.

“Thanks to Labor, our national park estate now includes land which housed dairies and wineries, as well as a sporting field that children now need a permit to be able to play upon,” he said.

“This locked up land has been allowed to become overrun with weeds and pest animals which have reached plague proportions in some areas.

“Our scientific review of all 12.5 million hectares of land within the national parks estate will result in higher protection and proper management for our pristine natural areas.

“Any claim that this review is being undertaken to revoke Queensland’s national parks is unfounded, and forms part of an increasingly shrill scare campaign from the extreme Green movement, eschewing science for emotive headlines.”

Mr Dickson said the Newman Government had acted quickly in past weeks to offer emergency grazing relief to drought stricken graziers by opening access to some National Parks and National Reserve System (NRS) properties.

“This land was carefully selected based on proximity to drought affected graziers, previous grazing histories, and the presence ofbuffel grass which is suitable fodder for cattle on many of these properties,” he said.

“In the particular case of Mazeppa National Park, we’re utilizing land which has been grazed from the early 1850s. Since becoming a National Park, African buffel grass has grown wild and if we do not allow cattle to graze, this introduced species will continue to grow, dry out through the winter and present a dangerous fire risk in the spring.

“With a third of Queensland now drought declared, we are not only offering a solution to assist the current crisis, we are potentially avoiding a future one.

“Further, in selecting this emergency grazing land, consideration was also given to levels of visitation. In the past two years, these five National Parks combined have seen fewer than 10 campers each year.

“Around 70 per cent of Queenslanders visited a National Park in the last year, but clearly no one is visiting those in the remote north-west to gaze at cattle runs and overgrown grass.

“Very clearly, the land we will make temporarily available is not the Daintree, it is land which in some cases still retains the windmills, fencing and other infrastructure it housed during its former grazing tenure.

“Further, recent claims that our hardworking Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) should not undertake feral animal control programs in other Queensland National Parks since the government has made this emergency grazing measure available, are the absolute height of absurdity.

“Feral pests, like brumbies, pigs and cats, run rampant without control or management They are not contained by fences and they exist in unsustainable numbers, indiscriminately destroying wildlife and vegetation in our parks and the properties of neighbouring landholders.”

Mr Dickson said the government was ensuring the environmental values of the emergency agistment land continued to be safeguarded through measures such as responsible stocking rates and fencing where required.

“Strict monitoring will be undertaken throughout the term of the temporary permits, which are only available until the end of 2013,” he said.

“We have always maintained this temporary emergency action is only a small part of the Newman Government’s response to the growing drought crisis, with an $11.2 million support package announced last week to provide sustained relief.”

[ENDS] 2 June 2013

Media contact: Anna Hilton 0408 191 192