Paul Neville (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I recently attended the graduation of 10 Green Corps participants from a project which focused on the rehabilitation of Bundaberg’s Norville Park catchment area. This site has historic and environmental significance. It was one of the early cultural settlements of the South Sea Islanders and is very fondly remembered by them.

I was very impressed with the outcomes and the dedication of the young people who worked on the project. They developed stormwater pollution prevention strategies for the area, including regeneration of native bushland and the reconstruction of a dry creek bed to reduce surface water run-off. Over the six months of the project the team built a contour drainage system and put in 300 metres of aggregate pathways and 200 metres of fencing around the area. They also propagated 1,000 native plants, removed around five hectares of weeds and collected native seeds from the area. All this has gone to reduce the surface run-off and improve the quality of water running into the Burnett River.

But these young people went even further by carrying out a community education project to let local people know how important it is to keep rubbish out of local waterways. The participants also gained qualifications in first aid and, for career development, learned how to put resumes together, how to deal with selection criteria and various techniques to use at job interviews. What I found most remarkable was that nine out of 10 of these young people either had a job or were about to commence a job by the end of the course. To get a nine out of 10 strike rate is truly exceptional. Three of these young people are going to the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, two have started their own business, two have been employed by a landscaping company, one is working with a local fencing company, one has gone to the Army and one is looking forward to being employed by a cabinet-maker.

I congratulate the graduates, along with the Bundaberg City Council and Impact, who supported the valuable work carried out at the Norville Park catchment area, and in particular I congratulate the group’s quite exceptional leader, Gary O’Sullivan, who led, motivated and skilled these equally exceptional young people.

Since Green Corps was introduced in 1997, teams have planted 13 million trees, erected 7,000 kilometres of fencing, removed 37,000 hectares of weeds, collected more than 9,000 kilograms of seeds and built and maintained more than 5,000 kilometres of walkways, boardwalks and pathways. The collective value of this to the Australian environment and to recreation across Australia is hard to estimate, so I congratulate all those associated with it. Well done!