Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) Landcare is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year;

(b) the keystones of Landcare are that it is community owned and driven and bi-partisan in nature, and it encourages integrated management of environmental assets with productive farmland and a more sustainable approach to private land management; and

(c) 40 per cent of all farmers are involved in Landcare;

(2) acknowledges that Landcare has been working for over 25 years to:

(a) improve our farmlands;

(b) breathe new life into waterways;

(c) improve the coastal environment;

(d) restore native vegetation and wildlife habitats; and

(e) protect our urban environment; and

(3) condemns the Government for slashing almost $480 million from Landcare’s budget.

Landcare is a grassroots community organisation with over 100,000 volunteers Australia wide and in excess of 2,000 volunteers in Lake Macquarie, where I come from and where we have over 300 Landcare groups. In the Shortland electorate I will mention just two very large community Landcare groups—Galgabba Landcare group and Belmont Wetlands Landcare group. It is important that in this 25th year of Landcare when we are celebrating Landcare's anniversary that we acknowledge the incredible impact Landcare has had on our environment, both in rural areas, where 40 per cent of activities are conducted by farmers, and in areas such as Lake Macquarie, where the work of those 2,000 dedicated volunteers has contributed to restoring the health of Lake Macquarie through restoration work of creeks and river ways, revegetation, environmental remediation and a lot of hard work.

The strength of Landcare is that it is owned by the community and that community is working to restore the environment in which it lives and works. Now the Abbott government has ripped $483 million out of Landcare over the next five years in its slash-and-burn budget of broken promises. It would use this money to fund its Green Army Program, which I am sure will build a lot of pretty walkways and undertake a lot of beautification but will not undertake the hard environmental work that is done by those dedicated Landcare workers. The beautification is hardly environmental restoration.

When we look at the Green Army the workers that will be involved in it will not have the same versatility and dedication to the environment that Landcare workers have. Those people will not be able to be picked for their skills and the expertise that they have to work on environmental projects. It will disenfranchise all those dedicated Landcare workers that go out day after day to work to restore the environment. This is another example of the government saying one thing before the election and then doing another thing after the election.

I would like to refer to a speech made by the member for Gippsland in May 2010, where he acknowledges the fantastic work of Landcare volunteers and was questioning what he perceived to be a cut in the budget at that time. He said that cutting funds:

… is a kick in the guts to every volunteer who has given up a Sunday morning to plant trees, to remove weeds or to otherwise make a difference to the environment in their local community.

He said:

Landcare is an organisation that has enjoyed bipartisan support across its 20 years of history.

Well, on the side of the parliament, we certainly support Landcare and we know just how important it is. The member for Gippsland went on to ask a question of the then minister:

Landcare volunteers want to know if the current minister even try to protect them from these budget cuts.

Certainly in the case of this budget I suspect that the answer is no. We would really like to know what this government's commitment actually is to the environment.

In the Lake Macquarie and Newcastle area the regional coordinator of Landcare has pointed out that for every dollar you invest in Landcare delivers $10 to the community. It is a wise investment. I will finish on the note that the member for Gippsland said in 2010:

This government does not understand regional communities. It is not understand Landcare.

He at that time encouraged members of Landcare to contact their local radio stations and to write their local newspaper and put on record that they support Landcare and so should the government. This government stands condemned.

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