The Indigenous Rangers program is a hugely successful environment and employment program, which Labor invested heavily in when we were last in government, and we will do it again.

Labor will double the number of Indigenous Rangers to an equivalent of 1800 fulltime positions by the end of the decade, to help protect and restore both our biodiversity and cultural values.

Likewise, funding for Indigenous Protected Areas will be increased by around 50 per cent to ensure appropriate management of these areas.

And Labor will deliver the 40-million-dollars of cultural water promised in 2018 but not yet delivered by the Morrison Government. 

Australians understand the strength of connection to our country. Our farmers often say the land they work is in their blood. We talk of knowing we’re home when we feel the hot sand of our favourite beach beneath our feet.

So we should have at least a partial understanding of the depth of connection for those of us whose ancestors have been here for millennia. 

The Indigenous Rangers program repairs our soils and landscapes, it provides jobs, but consistent with this year’s NAIDOC theme, it also heals country – and that cannot be separated from healing its people.