Ms BADGER (Lyons) – Was it not tremendous to hear the Premier’s comments this morning about his concern on the melting glaciers? After all, climate change is one of the greatest threats to our young people, and I hope he cares as much about having healthy oceans.
The oceans are currently filled with toxic micro plastics, but here we are still stalling on the container recycling scheme that we have been waiting for so long. The best thing that we can do in this place is leave Tasmania’s young people and young people right around the world with a stable climate and a healthy environment. That means that we do have to invest in the science so that we can help mitigate climate change. We also have to invest in the science of bridging the digital divide. That means making sure our young people have the connectivity that they need to keep up with the rest of the world.
So much of Tasmania is regional and rural. People who live in those places cannot be left behind in the digital future. It is as critical for our young people to have online skills as it is for them to have literacy and numeracy.
Back to the climate. We have to make sure that we protect what we currently have. That means ending native forest logging, making sure that we protect critical carbon stores and intact biodiversity and ecosystems. We also need to restore degraded ecosystems. It is possible to do that in Tasmania. We have such a variety of ecosystems that we need to help restore: our river systems, forests and wetlands.
The possibility for an entire new industry in ecosystem restoration in this state is enormous. With a small investment we can help transition workers out of extractive industries into restoring degraded ecosystems. What a fantastic gift for young people in that new industry, and what a tremendous cross‑cutting theme that would be for the University of Tasmania.
Ecosystem restoration is an interdisciplinary action. It requires environmental scientists, but it also requires engineers to do the technical tasks. It requires the arts to help mediate what is happening and to share the good news of how we are restoring ecosystems right around the world. It requires the legal system as well.
This is the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration – 2021 to 2030. Now is the time for Tasmania to rapidly upscale ecosystem restoration and start investing in it.
Australia signed on to the COP15 pledge in 2022 to conserve, protect and restore 30 per cent of our land and seas by 2030. Let us get on with the job. Let us protect the important ecosystems that we have here in Tasmania that are currently under‑protected for future generations: the Spero‑Wanderer Wilderness area, takayna, and the magnificent temperate rainforest that is so critical to maintaining a healthy, stable climate. This is the time and that is the greatest thing that we can do for our young people. There is an awful lot to do, but we can do it if we choose to do so, and I am really looking forward to this parliament doing so.
Members – Hear, hear.
