Thursday, 22 February 2024

South Gippsland Landcare Network

Tom McINTOSH (Eastern Victoria) (09:56): I was fortunate enough to join our Minister for Environment, Minister Dimopoulos, a couple of weeks ago. We were out on farms in Mirboo North and Arawata looking at Landcare projects. We joined Heather at her farm in Mirboo looking at the pasture crops she is putting in. There are 12 pastures going in there on a couple of hectares – no herbicide, no pesticide. Her neighbours are doing it. She has got a rotation of 50 head of steers coming through. It was great to see Landcare supporting local farmers trialling these sorts of initiatives. We also had a look on the farm at the landslips that have occurred and the work that has been done to prevent further erosion and shore up the creek on the back of her farm. We were also at Arawata on Alex and Clare’s beautiful property. There are stunning views across these properties, which, sadly, four days later were severely hit by the storms; I bumped into Heather and Alex a few days after the storms under much sadder circumstances.

The work that they are all doing across their farms is being supported by the South Gippsland Landcare Network, who are helping by taking these trialled initiatives and sharing them out with other farmers so that as they are all coming together, they are receiving education on best practice and emerging methods of farming and they are able to share that with their neighbours and with their communities, and communities are sharing with other communities in the broader Landcare network, getting the best results for their productivity, their livability and, as I mentioned before, the wildlife corridors. They are getting the best outcomes for all involved, so congratulations.