As we enjoy the Christmas break and summer, it is worthwhile reflecting on the huge year that we have had as a community. I want to thank and congratulate the volunteers and people who have given their time to support our wonderful organisations like Meals On Wheels, OneDoor, the Northern Beaches Women’s Shelter, Community Northern Beaches and countless others who help the vulnerable and voiceless in our community. There are so many great groups like the Rotary Club and Manly Lions who have also had a big year back, fundraising and putting on community events. Well done and thank you.
A year of delivery as NSW Environment Minister
This year has been a huge one for the Environment in NSW. It has been a great privilege to deliver some important environmental legislation and outcomes. Over the past year I have:
- Enhanced the powers of the Environmental Protection Agency
- Banned single use plastics in NSW to reduce litter and landfill and support our marine life.
- Increased the state’s recycling capacity by investing in more recycling facilities and programs. Since 2012 we have increased our recycling capacity by an extra 3.2 million tonnes.
- Delivered the $190 million NSW Koala Strategy, which is the single largest investment into a single species by any government in Australia.
- Launched one of the largest harbour restoration projects of its kind in the world to reforest and restore Sydney’s marine habitats for penguins, seals, seahorses and turtles.
- Returned 10 locally extinct animals to their native habitats in our world-leading rewilding sites, and we’re on track to remove these species from the extinct list – the first time this has happened anywhere in the world.
- Expanded the NSW National Park Estate, in fact we have added more than 602,500 hectares of land to the national parks estate since 2019 – and there’s even more to come.
Welcome to our international friends
I recently welcomed U.S Ambassador Caroline Kennedy to visit beautiful Manly. Our area has pioneered some outstanding environment initiatives, like Operation Crayweed and the Living Seawalls. These projects are integrated into the world’s largest Harbour restoration project that I announced earlier this year. The project will help to restore biodiversity in Sydney Harbour, improve water quality and increase carbon sequestration.
Seaweeds such as Crayweed provide critical habitat and food for marine life. They also act as underwater forests, capturing carbon and creating oxygen. However, Crayweed completely disappeared from the Sydney metropolitan region in the 1980s due to pollution and has never returned. The Living Seawalls are part of the NSW Government’s $9.1 million Seabirds to Seascapes program which was recently announced by Mr Griffin. It includes three elements:
- Restoring Sydney Harbour as an ecosystem and marine habitat by installing hundreds of Living Seawalls, and replanting seagrass meadows and kelp forests
- Supporting the future of Little Penguins in NSW by conducting the first ever statewide Little Penguin census to better understand their population size and how they’re responding to threats such as climate change
- Helping Fur Seals thrive as a species by conducting a Seal Survey to identify their preferred habitat, breeding grounds, diet and key threats.
The initiative is being delivered in partnership with experts from the Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS), Taronga Conservation Society Australia and NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Thank you
If I don’t get to see you over the Christmas break, have a safe time and enjoy all that our beautiful area has to offer!