Council delegates urge better funding for national parks

Delegates from 20 north Queensland shire councils have passed a motion calling
on the State Government to boost the level of management funding for national
parks.

The motion passed at the recent North Queensland Local Government Conference
calls for the government to improve park management by providing more money to
park staff.

Flinders Shire Mayor Brendan McNamara says extra funding would be used to kill
pest weeds in his shire, to stop the Flinders River carrying their seeds to the
Gulf.

"We certainly believe that parthenium needs to be stopped at it's source, we
certainly don't want parthenium weed all the way to the Gulf of Carpentaria
because certainly our shire and all those shires west of us are very strong on
trying to keep parthenium weed out of their shires," he said.

"There's some undeveloped parks that could be developed for tourism
opportunities - we believe the money needs to be prioritised on those areas."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/05/15/2571185.htm?site=northwest