Padraig Hoare: New package for NPWS a victory for nature and Noonan alike

The announcement of a €55m package for the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) should finally give it the respect it deserves, as well as a personal victory for Heritage Minister Malcolm Noonan.

Ministers Darragh O'Brien and Malcolm Noonan at the launch of the Strategic Action Plan for the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Those of us of a certain vintage will remember heavy rock's glorious history in the 1980s, and Australian band Midnight Oil's seminal hit 'Beds Are Burning' was one of its finest.

With an unbridled intensity and passion, lead singer Peter Garrett brought the tragic history of Australia's indigenous people to the world stage, with his glistening bald head and bulging eyes giving what Rolling Stone magazine called a "mesmerising onstage presence".