Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

The member is making interjections across the floor, but I just have to put on record my concern that the coalition have to actually use accuracy in relation to their comments about these programs. What is the point of engaging in a process of discussion about a program that this government has brought forward if there is not a willingness on the part of the coalition to actually produce criticisms which have substance or content?

The member has made a number of inaccurate and misleading public statements about Caring for our Country, and we have heard some of them today. For example, in the past, the member has said that Landcare has been cut by 20 per cent. That is simply not correct. Landcare has been allocated funding of $189.2 million over the first five years of Caring for our Country. Savings of $1.5 million over five years reflect the efficiencies to be gained by delivering Landcare as part of an integrated program. I say to members opposite: when you hear about savings and efficiencies, it is no wonder that you are calling out from that side of the House, because the Australian National Audit Office was damning of your performance when it came to the delivery of the Natural Heritage Trust—absolutely damning. If we look at the level of ecological and natural landscape health across the continent in the period of time that you were in government, when you had access to all the funds in the world to drive a successful natural resource management program, and when we look at the indices of health as a consequence of that, we see that not only was it unaccountable but it actually did not deliver any results either.

The second thing I want to address is the claim that has been made about cutting red tape. We are cutting red tape. Decisions on Caring for our Country will be shared between the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts and the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. We are providing a streamlined approach to decision making. We intend to provide greater efficiencies by sharing decisions on Caring for our Country and natural resource management delivery.

Additional to that, I want to point out that Landcare and the Environmental Stewardship Program have been consolidated into Caring for our Country, along with the Natural Heritage Trust and Working on Country. The reason for that is that we have identified six national priorities which we believe ought to be the appropriate delivery focus for this program. To have six national environment priorities means that we have actually got some focus in the program which was never there before. I have every expectation that we will have a rollout of substantial programs which will be taking place—

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