Budget blow to the environment

By Casey Neill
THE Federal Budget dealt a further blow to the environment, according to the Upper Yarra and Dandenongs Environment Council.
But a spokesman for Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett said the Government remained committed to investing in the natural environment.
Upper Yarra and Dandenongs Environment Council (UYDEC) spokeswoman Jo Tenner said key environmental funding had become even less accessible for local groups.
“Environmental programs like Caring for our Country have been gutted to the tune of $81.3 million,” she said.
Caring for our Country is a funding program for local environment groups which can apply for cash to carry out environmental work, such as tackling weeds.
“Locally, our natural environment, whether on public or private land, is horribly threatened by invasive species which smother and eliminate native vegetation,” Ms Tenner said.
“Both state and federal levels of government are failing to support us to deal with this issue.”
Ms Tenner said the Government had failed to make vital connections between human wellbeing and the sustainability of the natural environment.
“This is demonstrated clearly in this year’s Federal Budget, which continues the trend of devaluing the work of environmental volunteers and massively under-resourcing natural resource management programs,” she said.
However, a spokesman for Mr Garrett said the Budget had maintained the Government’s commitment to investing more than $2 billion over the first five years of Caring for our Country.
“Savings have been made in this budget and will be achieved by administrative efficiencies and modest adjustments to the program,” he said.
“Importantly, base level funding for natural resource management organisations and support for Landcare facilitators is secure.”
The spokesman said the Government remained committed to investing in the natural environment.
“In addition to our $2 billion commitment to Caring for our Country, the Government will invest $18 million over four years to establish a groundbreaking National Plan for Environmental Information.”
He said this was the first step in building an environmental information basis for the country.
“This has never been done in this country and will be a truly groundbreaking reform, recognising the wellbeing of our communities and economy is inextricably linked to the health of our environment,” he said.