Across Australia, the government has established 12 new Indigenous Protected Areas to be managed by First Nations groups.
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00:00This is an amazing thing for my past generations, for my ancestors.
00:06The Australian Government has announced 12 new Indigenous Protected Areas
00:12that will be managed by First Nations groups.
00:15The total area is 7.5 million hectares of land and 450,000 hectares of sea.
00:24That's an area the size of Tasmania.
00:27We're here at the beautiful Bellinger River today and this is one Indigenous Protected Area.
00:33We're talking about the Pilbara, Coorbarpiti, Cape York, East Arnhem Land,
00:38right across this country in a whole range of different landscape types.
00:45First Nations Rangers are employed to care for Country and protect threatened species.
00:52For my ancestors, they weren't allowed to look after this land,
00:56so they've passed down through generations the responsibility to look after that land.
01:01So for me now, to be able to stand up and be given the right to look after our lands
01:07and turn them tables back to where the traditional custodians' practices are the keys to the future,
01:13there isn't words in the language that I know to really express how important that is to us as people.