Indigenous Rangers: Protecting the Great Barrier Reef

Twenty-two Indigenous rangers and four Indigenous compliance officers from Far North Queensland recently graduated with compliance qualifications that will help protect the Great Barrier Reef.

The training was conducted under the Australian Government’s Specialised Indigenous Ranger Program in partnership with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) enabling the rangers to take on formal marine park inspector roles in addition to regular ranger duties.

Larissa Hale is the Managing Director of Yuku-Baja-Muliku Rangers.

“Indigenous rangers are critical to ensuring the health and sustainability of our environment, and we need the tools and legal support to be able to protect it.” Larissa said.

The rangers were supported and mentored over two years by GBRMPA’s Indigenous Compliance team to complete a Certificate IV in Government Statutory Compliance.

This is a national qualification which equips the rangers with skills that can be used in regulatory occupations around Australia.

The qualification is expected to strengthen the relationship between community-based ranger organisations and regulatory authorities and also build a career pathway for Indigenous rangers in a variety of jobs.

Two participants, Charmaine from Hopevale Rangers and April from the Gunngandji Ranger Group are looking forward to using the skills they have learnt, back in their own communities.

“It’s great to take this step and to help manage and sustain our marine turtles and dugongs back at home,” April said.

"The best thing about this course was doing it ‘on country’ because that is where your skills and knowledge fall into place,” Charmaine said.

As marine park inspectors, the rangers will have the confidence and tools to be able to deal with people committing environmental offences. This will bolster efforts to protect the Great Barrier Reef and help conserve marine animals such as turtles and dugongs.

Peta Ross from the GBRMP said that what makes the program special is that they now have additional resources on the ground, particularly in remote locations.

“The rangers are very important when responding to activities that might occur within the park, having trained rangers in those areas who have extensive knowledge of their traditional country is absolutely vital to our business,” Peta said.