MEDIA RELEASE: A SHORTEN LABOR GOVERNMENT WILL CLEAN UP BULIMBA CREEK

TONY BURKE MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER
MEMBER FOR WATSON

 
TERRI BUTLER MP
MEMBER FOR GRIFFITH

 

GRAHAM PERRETT MP
MEMBER FOR MORETON

 

JO BRISKEY
LABOR CANDIDATE FOR BONNER


A SHORTEN LABOR GOVERNMENT WILL CLEAN UP BULIMBA CREEK

 

Labor’s Southside team today announced a Shorten Labor Government will make Bulimba Creek a priority project under the Urban Rivers program.

Through the Urban Rivers and Corridors Program, a Shorten Labor Government has committed $200 million to restore urban waterways and habitat corridors across the country to their natural beauty.

This election will be a choice between a united Shorten Labor Government which will invest in our environment, or more of the Liberals’ cuts, chaos, and climate change denialism.

Labor’s investment will unlock grant funding for projects to clean up our rivers including revegetation, tree planting, waste capture and naturalisation projects.

For too long, our rivers, creeks and wetlands have been treated like storm water drains, ending up polluted, dirty and littered with shopping trolleys rather than being safe spaces for families, kids and school groups to visit.

Labor will engage state and local governments, local councils, community groups and local environmental organisations to bring urban waterways and habitat corridors back to health.

Labor’s $200 million investment will fund projects to clean up our rivers, including:

  • Building wetlands to capture and clean and filter stormwater.

  • Revegetation and tree planting along corridors.

  • Citizen science and education programs along creeks and corridors, including bush kinder.

  • Bird boxes and waste capture.

  • Employment of indigenous rangers.

  • Turning urban waterways back into creeks and rivers again through changing hard surfaces back to natural surfaces (cement turned to river banks).

The Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government has consistently failed to provide federal environment programs that adequately address the urgent need for urban river rehabilitation.

Only Labor is serious about protecting the environment and making sure it’s there for future generations to enjoy. We’ll take action on climate change, invest in the environment, and maintain Australia’s status as the “great outdoors”.

These policies and projects will form part of a comprehensive platform for a healthier environment in our cities and across Australia.

TUESDAY, 14 MAY 2019

Tony Burke