Tuesday, 3 October 2023

Adjournment

Tower Hill weed management

Roma BRITNELL (South-West Coast) (19:00): (341) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Environment, and the action I seek is for the minister to come and visit Tower Hill during the springtime and see for himself how a weed management program needs to be put in place to protect this magnificent asset. Tower Hill is a 30,000-year-old extinct volcano only minutes from the townships of Warrnambool, Port Fairy and Koroit. It is a beautiful place with native wildlife such as kangaroos, koalas, emus, echidnas and prolific birdlife. There are beautiful walks throughout the revegetated landscape, and I never fail to see abundant native wildlife when taking friends from overseas or from the city for a tour of our Great South Coast region. However, many of these walking tracks are overrun by weeds – hemlock, forget-me-nots and other wildly spreading noxious weeds – destroying the native vegetation. I was shocked last week to visit the park and see how overrun it is at the moment by weeds. Friends of Tower Hill do their absolute best to manage this issue. They told me some time ago that they had been instructed by park staff that until the reserve has a change of name from a state game park to a national park, a management plan with the necessary funding cannot occur. This is a state government asset. It is beyond me why a name change is required for the government to manage their responsibility and do their job.

As a farmer with experience managing weeds and pest control programs I understand the importance of good weed management. It is common sense that letting weeds get out of hand is a disaster; it takes a long time to gain control back once you let them establish themselves in the ecosystem. Every year on a farm it is important to manage weed infestation from neighbouring properties or roadsides, and Crown land should be treated no differently. An appropriate management plan needs to be put in place, and the government needs to step up and assist the Friends of Tower Hill with a management plan that allows them to get the weeds back under control.

I have raised this in this place before – that the government’s lack of responsibility towards the natural environment is appalling. It is environmental vandalism not to manage the state parks responsibly. The loss of understorey puts the natural environment at great risk. Farmers cannot get away with mismanagement of their land. Why is the state government making excuses instead of doing its job? The park was denuded of vegetation during European settlement, and in the 1960s and 70s many schoolchildren climbed the steep banks of the precinct and planted native trees. My brothers and sister and many of my friends from the district participated in this activity.

A member: Katherine?

Roma BRITNELL: She did, yes. The park is a beautiful legacy to their work, and to destroy the understorey of this revegetated area is a great shame. The state government is very fortunate to have volunteers such as the Friends of Tower Hill to do so much of the work to protect this beautiful asset and maintain it as best they can. It is a small ask to assist them with a management plan and give them some resources to do so.