A Shorten Labor Government will double the number of full-time Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Rangers.

Labor will invest $210 million over five years to boost the number of rangers to more than 1550 full-time equivalent positions by 2021.

Indigenous Rangers are good for jobs, good for the environment and good for closing the gap. Labor is backing them all the way.

The highly successful Working for Country program employs local rangers to do vital environmental conservation activities. The work rangers undertake includes the management of cultural sites, fire regimes, nurturing biodiversity, dealing with feral animals, managing the fallout of weeds, pollution and climate change.

More than a third of Indigenous rangers are women, delivering jobs and empowerment in remote communities.

Combining the latest environmental science with traditional knowledge and training in conservation, Indigenous rangers are well placed to protect and rehabilitate their land. It’s what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have always done.  

Labor is serious about providing meaningful jobs in remote areas, with real social, economic and cultural benefits to flow from Working on Country.

A factsheet is available here.

THURSDAY, 11 MAY 2017