Country Needs People: Update

The Country Needs People campaign is a growing group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians calling on decision makers to:

  1. Double funding for Indigenous rangers and Indigenous Protected Areas;

  2. Commit to longer term funding for Indigenous rangers and Indigenous Protected Areas; and

  3. Support a long term national target of 5000 Indigenous land and sea management jobs.

Below is an email from Country Needs People received by the collaboration.

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G'day Friend, 

Firstly, we just wanted to say thank you. You’ve been a fantastic supporter of Country Needs People and the work we do with our partners to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land and sea management across Australia. We really couldn’t have achieved all we have without your voice. It matters.

We’re also writing to you because last week was federal budget week and we thought we’d give you an update on how the budget affected Indigenous rangers and Indigenous Protected Areas. 

What’s been happening? 

Remember before Covid hit last year? The country was dealing with the aftermath of the devastating fires. It was international news, and there was a strong sense that a better understanding of Indigenous fire management had to be a priority. But soon after, the only news was COVID. 

It’s important to reflect that after thousands of contacts by our supporters and partners in March 2020, the Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt announced that he would be extending Indigenous ranger contracts to 2028. A move that matched the same timeline as funding for Indigenous Protected Areas announced by Environment Minister Sussan Ley. This was a huge win! Indigenous rangers had never been given the security of funding for that long before. We’d been told it couldn’t happen - but together with our partners and your voice, we helped make it real!

We’re grateful for your ongoing support. Even when the media is focused somewhere else, we know that the importance of land and sea management remains. 

Later in 2020, The Ngururrpa and Ngadju Indigenous Protected Areas were announced. The two new IPAs cover over 7 million hectares of fragile desert ecosystems and biodiverse Great Wester Woodlands landscape to the IPA network. Both these areas took over five years to develop, showing how crucial long-term funding is if you want to see real gains for people and nature.  

So, what was in this year’s budget for rangers and IPAs? 

We had some positive announcements in the budget…

  • The federal government committed $11.6 million over the next two years to incorporate Sea Country into Indigenous Protected Areas across nine new locations. This is a great step, and it recognises that caring for country doesn’t end at the shoreline. Sea Country and land are part of a whole and need to be cared for in the right way by the right people.

  • $4 million over the next four years for Indigenous rangers to manage pests, protect biodiversity and care for cultural values.

  • $0.5 million for stakeholder engagement to modernise and strengthen Indigenous heritage protections.

As usual, when decisions are made that support land and sea management, we welcome them. But we think the government can and should show more ambition for Indigenous Rangers and Indigenous Protected Areas. And we’re going to need your help on that 

Opportunity for Growth? 

In between August this year and May next year, there will be a federal election. All parties will effectively be campaigning from now on. 

It’s time to start building up our voice for the sake of all the good work that is happening, and could be happening, on country. As always, we will be talking to all parties and pollies because this should be beyond politics - it’s good for country, culture, jobs and communities. 

We’ll be speaking up, with your help, to tell pollies on all sides to recognise the hard work and success of Indigenous rangers and Indigenous Protected Areas, by backing them with more long-term funding and a vision for Australia that benefits everyone.

Don’t forget to follow us on our social media platforms. It helps us make sure that rangers and Traditional Owners know they have support from the Australian community.  Stay tuned for more news. 

Your voice is important, and we’ve achieved a lot with you up till now. But we can do more, and we’re excited about the possibilities. So, like us on Facey, follow us on Twitter and Insta, and link up with us on LinkedIn (is that a thing?!). We’ll be back in touch soon with more actions to take to let the pollies know how important this is for all of us.