National Forum

Official Launch - Old Observatory 20 March 2001
Dr Jenny Gregory

Welcome to the official launch of the National Forum - Taking Care of the Bush: Nature Conservation on Private Land.

As President of the National Trust of Australia (WA), it is my pleasure to welcome you this evening and to acknowledge the presence of the Minister for the Environment and Heritage, the Honorable Doctor Judith Edwards. We appreciate your personal interest in this important heritage issue. I would also like to thank our sponsors, all our presenters, and the participants in this National Forum.

Heritage is broadly defined as something that we have inherited from the past and something that we value enough today to leave for future generations.

The key word here is 'value', for conserving heritage is really all about identifying, assessing, conserving and interpreting the values that places and/or objects represent.

These values are reflected in our natural bushland as well as in our historic buildings. And the conservation and interpretation of heritage values is what the National Trust is all about. The National Trust acts both as a steward and a catalyst reflecting community values and concerns. Nature conservation on private land is one of those important concerns. Only last week, the ABC program, Four Corners, highlighted the immense impact land degradation is having on the Australian agricultural areas, particularly though dryland salinity and changes to water regimes and water quality. In the face of such a threat, it is truly heartening to see what is being done on private land to address these problems.

This National Forum has proven to be an exciting and challenging event for the National Trust. We accepted the challenge to host this National Forum only three short months ago to coincide with visits from members of the Conservation on Private Lands Network and representatives of Australian New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council to Perth.

In a first for the National Trust, the Forum was promoted exclusively through email networks, the National Trust website, heritage and conservation networks. I'm very pleased to say that the response to the event has surpassed our greatest expectations. We have over 200 delegates, including nearly forty speakers and participants, registered for the National Forum. This further reinforces to us the importance of the issues being discussed at the Forum.

I would like to take the opportunity to sincerely thank and acknowledge our sponsors and those individuals whose foresight and generosity enabled this important and much needed Forum to happen. Environment Australia, Land and Water Australia, the Ministry for Planning, the WA Landcare Trust, the Lotteries Commission of Western Australia, the Department of Conservation and Land Management, Paruna and Karakamia Sanctuaries have all contributed generously.

This support has ensured a widely based national attendance with appropriate representation from landowners, community groups, business and all levels of government. The support has also enabled the Forum to be endorsed by the International Year of Volunteers in recognition of the volunteer contribution to nature conservation.

I would also like to thank our speakers and participants of the National Forum. Many have travelled a long way, from the far corners of Australia to be with us for the Forum. Thank you for making this special effort. I'm sure you will all agree that the sharing of information, knowledge and experience between all delegates from around the country is vital to the success of the Forum.

So without further ado, may I wish you a wonderful evening. I hope that you enjoy the National Forum, I'm sure that it will prove to be a milestone in nature conservation on private land in Australia.