A Charter for Connection, But Don’t Forget Protection

Last week, the Charter Letters for the 18 ministers making up the new Queensland Cabinet were released. Premier and Minister for Veterans, David Crisafulli MP, has tasked his frontbenchers with delivering ‘The Right Plan’ for Queensland and has reiterated his government’s key commitments:

• safety where you live
• health services when you need them
• respect for your money
• a place to call home, and
• a government that works for you.

You can read the Charter Letter for the new Minister for Environment and Tourism, and Science and Innovation, The Honourable Andrew Powell MP, the Member for Glass House, HERE.

The addition of Tourism to the Environment portfolio has required a rebrand to the Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI). While the focus on tourism was to be expected, given Mr Crisafulli’s background and the need to prepare for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, as a newcomer to the portfolio, tourism’s prominence at the top of the list of Core Values seems quite intentional. We also notice that the key commitments, with the possible exception of ‘a place to call home’, make no reference to the natural world, which underpins everything we enjoy in Queensland.

Following on from NPAQ’s Ecotourism and Protected Areas Seminar earlier this year, and coupled with CEO Chris Thomas’s extensive experience within the tourism sector, NPAQ is well-placed to advise and work with government to ensure that ecotourism and protection enjoy a complementary coexistence in the state.

Mr Thomas is seeking to meet with the Minister for Environment and Tourism in the coming weeks to discuss the ‘blended’ portfolio and to stress the importance of expanding Queensland’s Protected Area Estate, including through the continued transition of state forests, and investing in its effective management and presentation.

As our Association’s motto ‘Connect and Protect’ suggests, NPAQ has long been committed to encouraging Queenslanders to develop real, lasting connections to our national parks and reserves. However, we temper that with the need to also recognise the duty of care we all have to safeguard our environment for future generations – the ‘protect’ part of our Association’s mission.

NPAQ was glad to see the commitment of 150 new ranger positions honoured – an election promise put forward in September by the former Shadow Minister for the Environment Sam O’Connor, who has since taken up the portfolios for Housing and Public Works and Youth. The appointment of more rangers will go some way towards addressing the ongoing management issues national parks face, although many more will be needed as we push towards 17% in Queensland (and 30×30 nationally), as NPAQ’s 2024-25 State Budget Submission underscored. Having said that, we were dismayed by the omission of the words ‘national park’ from the Minister’s Charter Letter, and by the explicit funding support for the Whitsunday Skyway, a controversial proposal that suggests the revocation of part of Conway National Park and the creation of a dense network of mountain bike trails, which is awaiting an Public Environment Report (PER) as a controlled action under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999 (EPBC).

NPAQ’s research into the impacts of mountain biking in protected areas, in an effort to cement a soon-to-be-released nation-wide policy position, suggests the Skyway proposal would greenlight environmental degradation. There are concerns it could act as an impromptu transport mechanism to encourage intensified downhill mountain bike racing through the park. The recent discovery of an entirely new species of pelican spider in Conway National Park, at present found nowhere else, should remind the sitting Minister that Queenslanders are keen to avoid potential white elephants, such as the previously rejected Springbrook Cableway, the scuppered Traveston Dam, or the now-axed Burdekin–Pioneer Valley Pumped Hydro proposal.

A careful, detailed, and fully collaborative approach to planning developments in or adjacent to protected areas will help avoid these costly errors. We hope to see the new Minister prioritising fully sustainable experiences that augment our unique protected areas and showcase them to the world in a way that fosters both connection and protection. We stand ready to assist the Minister and his department in that endeavour.