Weeds cash cut sprayed

HILLS environmentalists are furious that funding for weeds has again been slashed.
This comes as the Federal Government’s 2008-09 budget unveiled the dumping of previously promised cash.
In October last year, Liberal La Trobe MP Jason Wood announced $456,000 for ecological studies into controlling weeds such as wandering trad. However, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s razor gang has slashed the program and has no intention of delivering on the previous government’s commitment. The latest disappointment comes on the back of the State Government’s weed funding plans which local environmentalist say isn’t enough. Under the state’s plan $20 million will be spent over the next four years which will be divided by the 79 councils and environmental bodies from across Victoria.
This move was labelled as a Band-Aid measure for a problem that is rapidly spiralling out of control.
Mr Wood said weeds were one of the biggest issues in the Dandenongs and the government was ignoring the problem. He said Rudd’s razor gang had not only cut the funding but had not bothered to inject further cash into weeds.
Shire of Yarra Ranges councillor Len Cox has accused the Federal Government of losing track of grass-roots communities with this latest cut. Cr Cox said that in the excitement of taking office, the government had lost track of all the little things like weeds that they needed to invest in. He said the council was unable to continue to pour money into weeds without the help of both state and federal governments. In the past 12 months the shire has spent more than $500,000 on managing weeds.
Selby environmentalist Darcy Duggan said there was only a short window of opportunity left to tackle weeds.
Mr Duggan said if something isn’t done within the next five years the damage would be insurmountable.
“They are calling it responsible economic management but if they continue to ignore the key threats to the environment, the longer and more expensive it is going to be to fix it,” he said.
The Mail contacted the federal government but was unable to get a comment before going to print.