The Hon. Melissa Price MP
Minister for the Environment
Today I’m pleased to announce three new projects under the Morrison Government’s Threatened Species Recovery Fund.
Western Australia’s Indigenous rangers in the Kimberley will receive a further $80,000 to help them manage their land. This project will focus on fox and feral cat control to protect species such as the greater bilby and night parrot.
It’s a wonderful project, all about sharing knowledge. Rangers will combine Indigenous knowledge dating back tens of thousands of years alongside newly developed scientific techniques to ensure environmentally and economically sustainable outcomes for both the country and their communities, including Paruku Indigenous Protected Area.
We will provide $63,000 to the Australian National University’s Difficult Bird Group to improve breeding success of the critically endangered orange-bellied parrot in Tasmania.
Myrtle rust is an emerging biosecurity threat that threatens dozens of Australia’s iconic plant species, as well as our native plant nurseries.
We will provide $80,000 to experts from the New South Wales Royal Botanic Gardens to learn more about the disease and begin to look at ways we can better combat it.
Threatened species protection is a priority for the Morrison Government. Since 2014 over $302 million has been mobilised by for more than 1200 projects supporting threatened species outcomes.
These three projects are part of our Threatened Species Recovery Fund, which works alongside our $450 million Regional Land Partnerships program to protect Australia’s biodiversity.
I thank the Threatened Species Commissioner Dr Sally Box for her continuing work to identify projects that will achieve tangible outcomes for some of our most threatened species.
As Dr Box says, threatened species recovery is complex and ever changing. These projects will help us respond to new threats and emerging priorities while delivering against the targets of the Commissioner’s Threatened Species Strategy, supported by the Morrison Government.
We look forward to seeing the progress of these three projects.
