Ms TRISH DOYLE (Blue Mountains) (15:34): I am pleased to speak today on this matter of public importance, Biodiversity Month. Biodiversity encompasses every living thing that exists on our planet and the environment in which they live. Biodiversity Month is important in celebrating what is known as the web of life, the interconnectedness of all things in our environment. Biodiversity Month is in September each year and aims to protect, conserve and improve biodiversity. It is absolutely critical that our environments, ecosystems and habitats are preserved for our future generations. Our wellbeing and our enjoyment of life depend on biodiversity, as do our food, our recreation and tourism, our clean water, our rainforests, our woodlands and our oceans.

I acknowledge the good work of peak environmental groups, including the Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales, the Wilderness Society New South Wales, the Environmental Defenders Office NSW, the Blue Mountains Conservation Society and the Colong Foundation, as well as our Landcare groups, our Bushcare groups and our First Peoples' expertise in this space. It is important to note Labor's strong record of acting to protect the environment and delivering every significant environmental reform in Australia. I particularly note the achievements of the Carr Labor Government in New South Wales. Nature conservation was a priority for the Government in 1995—for example, Carr prevented logging in parts of south-eastern New South Wales by creating the South East Forests National Park along the New South Wales coastal range from Batemans Bay to the Victorian border.

Through a string of new national parks, 120,000 hectares or 300,000 acres of old growth forest and wilderness areas were protected between 1995 and 2000. In 1999 the Carr Government declared 100 new national parks between Nowra and the Bega Valley. It is important that, as the member for Blue Mountains, I acknowledge and pay tribute to my predecessor, Bob Debus. He was the longest-serving and the best Minister for the Environment in any Australian jurisdiction and oversaw the expansion of the national park system of New South Wales by more than one third. He undertook other environmental policy initiatives, including the first program in Australia to successfully purchase water licences for the restoration of environmental flows in inland rivers, cleaner production and remediation laws and the introduction of the first extended producer responsibility laws in Australia.