The Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for the Environment and Water
The Hon Linda Burney MP, Minister for Indigenous Australians
The Albanese Labor Government is investing $14.5 million to establish ten new Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs), to better protect and conserve more of Australia’s land and sea.
IPAs are a proud homegrown success story. IPAs are areas of land and sea Country managed by First Nations groups which also deliver positive environmental outcomes for the benefit of all Australians.
They now cover 87 million hectares of Australia’s land and over 5 million hectares of sea country – which is the majority of Australia’s national estate.
By supporting Traditional Owners to look after their own country, IPAs offer multiple benefits, with better environmental protection, stronger economic opportunities, and a more enduring connection to land and culture.
They show that when we listen to First Nations people, and when we support them to make decisions over their own lives and their communities, we get better outcomes.
The ten new IPAs will go towards the Government’s commitment to protect 30 per cent of land and seas by 2030.
The expansion of the IPA Program also delivers on the Commonwealth’s Closing the Gap Implementation Plan, providing increased opportunity for First Nations peoples to maintain their physical and spiritual connection to Country.
This new funding is part of the Government’s $231.5 million commitment to expand and improve the IPA program over the next 5 years.
IPAs are developed under voluntary agreements between First Nations peoples and the Australian Government to manage and protect areas of land and sea for conservation of cultural and natural heritage values.
