Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australia is blessed with a beautiful and unique environment, but it is also a fragile one and we have not looked after it as well as we could have and we have had to learn some painful lessons. Rising salinity has devastated our soils. Blue green algal blooms have ruined waterways. Introduced animal and weed pests have attacked native birds, plants and animals and have damaged agriculture. We have learned the hard way that you cannot just clear the native vegetation and engage in fence-to-fence agriculture without doing serious harm to both environment and agriculture.

Many volunteers and community groups have come together around the country to try to repair some of this environmental damage. Twenty five years ago, back in 1989, I set up what is now known as the Friends of Moonee Ponds Creek to try to restore this much degraded Cinderella of urban waterways to something of its former glory. We have not succeeded in removing the concrete from large sections of the creek, but we have been able to replant a lot of the original vegetation, and areas like the Jacana Wetlands have became an oasis for waterbird life.

We will be celebrating 25 years of volunteer effort on Sunday, 15 June with a tree-planting and BBQ at the John Street Reserve in Oak Park between 10 am and 12 noon. I commend the work of our great volunteers: secretary, Kaye Oddie; treasurer, Vince Aitkin; Frank Kinnersley; Julie Law; Carolyn Layton; Tony Smith; Anna Lanigan; Bob Steadman; Stella Blay; David Muir; Mark O'Brien; Terry Mundy; Clive Judd; Audrey Biggs; Joe Ficarra; and many others who have helped out over the years.

It is also 25 years since Landcare was established. Landcare has a very Victorian pedigree. I am very pleased to support the motion from the member for Shortland, my friend Jill Hall. There has been some very significant research done concerning the health benefits of exposure to nature—for example, by the UK researcher Graham Rook concerning the value of microbes in the soil in building up our immune system and concerning the psychological benefits and mental health benefits of being around birds, plants and animals. The fact is that we spend a tremendous amount of time and money and effort on our 'grey' infrastructure but nowhere near as much on our 'green' infrastructure, parks and gardens, trees and vegetation, and sporting ovals, and our 'blue infrastructure, creeks and waterways, coasts and beaches, and lakes and wetlands.

So the work done by Landcare groups right around the country has been incredibly important. Australia is proud to boast more than 4,000 community Landcare groups, 2,000 Coastcare groups and many thousands of volunteers across the country. Through Australia's people and communities, the Landcare movement is making a big difference in caring for our country. All around Australia, Landcare is helping repair and viably manage our precious natural resources.

I want to mention the work of the Victorian Landcare Council, which was established in 2008 to represent the interests of volunteer Landcare in Victoria in pursuing a healthy and sustainable environment. The Victorian Landcare Council is independent of government, business or other organisations. As members are probably aware, the overall picture in terms of land, soil, water and the state of the environment around the world is not rosy. With the state of the environment and agriculture deteriorating, the challenges ahead are immense. One of the things the Victorian Landcare Council, and in particular one of the architects of Landcare and chair of Australian Landcare International, Rob Youl, has been seeking to do, is to export Landcare overseas.

In June last year, I had the honour of speaking at the launch of the Overseas Landcare Fund, an initiative of the Victorian Landcare Council and Australian Landcare International. As I said then, the idea of helping overseas Landcare groups is very exciting. Landcare in some form is now in 26 countries especially Asia and East Africa. The Overseas Landcare Fund has given funds to projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for revegetation, to Nigeria for wetlands and biodiversity, to Tanzania Junior Landcare, to Sri Lanka for water quality and to the Philippines and Indonesia for tree nurseries. In the Pacific, Fiji has several Landcare projects, the first of which originated from WWF. The Australian Landcare International members also helped launch Tonga's first Landcare group via Rotary Australia.

So in the year of Landcare's 25th anniversary, we can see that it has not only achieved a lot in Australia, it is also becoming a very successful Australian export. I therefore hope that the Liberal government will rethink its nearly $480 million cut from the Landcare budget, and also its overseas aid cuts which diminish our capacity to help other countries look after their land, their water, the natural environment.

Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in order to add my praises to Landcare, one of Australia's, and I would argue, one of the world's most successful programs of hands-on community-driven natural resource protection and rehabilitation. This motion celebrates the 25th anniversary of Landcare, which began in Victoria where it remains one of the best known and successful of environmental programs. Its strength has always been the ownership and involvement of private landholders, many of them but not all, farmers whose weed or feral animal issues, or native tree or habitat loss required more than just the farm family to do the work, or more off-farm resources to buy, for example, fencing materials, seeds or seedlings, tree guards, or watering systems or the higher of special equipment.

I was closely involved in those very early days 25 years ago. I was working in the Victorian Public Service in the water and agriculture area and I supported the then Minister for Conservation, Forests and Lands, Joan Kirner, as she formed what some thought at the time was a surprising environmental alliance with the then President of the Victorian Farmers Federation, Heather Mitchell. Heather and Joan were two tireless no-nonsense champions who forged new ideas to unite and drive community environmental action and, not surprisingly, they engaged women as well as men, knowing full well that women do as much farmwork as men but are often in particular concerned about the environmental issues.

From the very beginning Landcare was a bipartisan supported program—and this has always been one of its strengths—with hobby farmers, retirees, school children and primary producers working together to bring about real, measurable change to the landscape, waterways, protecting the biodiversity, bringing back habitat to either keep or to attract back some of our very rare bird species, like around the Picola area in my part of the world.

Much of this earliest Landcare work was prompted by the Victorian State Salinity Program of the 1980s which recognised that reafforestation in the groundwater recharge areas in the Central Highlands was a key issue to be undertaken. That vegetation had been stripped during the gold rush era for urban development when the tram tracks in Melbourne were literally built on red gum blocks and the water supply in Western Victoria was literally run through timber pipes. So I always get a little bemused, as was the case with the previous speaker, who said it was all about farmers destroying the environment or cutting down trees. Actually, urbanisation particularly in Australia has been a major culprit in clearing out the forests that it had easy reach to. And of course it was the paddle steamers on the Murray that cleared most of the riparian zone of red gum and other timber as they plied their way up and down the Murray, carting wool and sheep fat for about half a century. So let us get it straight, we are not in the blame game here. There has been environmental degradation across Australia as a consequence of not understanding our fragile environmental state but also because our very development was built on the back of the use of timber. Landcare, not surprisingly then, was launched in a small town in Central Victoria in 1985 close to the Central Highlands where a major tree-planting effort was to be set in motion.

One of the key components of Landcare has been the recruitment of paid local coordinators, frequently women, who have then set about coordinating the efforts of local landcare groups who not only often own that land but who live there and care deeply about its sustainability and its intergenerational health. With these paid coordinators you are able to make sure that all the equipment has been gathered together, the seeds are there and perhaps a seed-collecting effort has gone on the season before, and the barbecue is set in place. As I say, those local paid coordinators have been key to what is, in fact, a very low-cost program. I would argue this is now one of the best environmental efforts you will find anywhere globally, but I note that more than 20 countries have taken up landcare and they understand the importance of these local coordinators.

I want to pay tribute particularly to my local Landcare groups in the electorate of Murray. They have worked tirelessly for two generations, literally changing the landscape. In some parts the trees are now thicker and more biodiverse than they were prior to European settlement, particularly in the case of the Tragowel Plain, where I come from. My mother has been responsible personally for planting thousands of trees on what was a treeless plain. Landcare is going from strength to strength. It cannot die because the concept behind it is so right and meets Australia's needs so profoundly. Yes, there has been some trimming of the budget, as there has been across the board because Labor left us with such debt and deficit. Sadly, we have had to do the hard yards there. But Landcare: I salute you on your 25th birthday. May you continue to thrive.

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Shortland for the motion. The West Moreton Landcare Group in my electorate of Blair is to be congratulated. It is an active group of more than 50 members. I note that, on Australia Day this year, City of Ipswich medallions were awarded to a number of landcare members, including the President of West Moreton Landcare, Bob Hampson; the immediate past secretary, Beryl Wallace; former treasurer, Margaret Witherspoon; and Arnold Rieck, who was a founder of West Moreton Landcare and has been a member since it was established. I congratulate that particular organisation because they work closely with south-east Queensland catchments in the city of Ipswich. In May last year they were awarded $39,600 for the Black Snake Creek catchment projects, which are in a particularly difficult area in the rural parts of Ipswich, around Marburg, with high salinity affecting Marburg and the surrounding agricultural regions.

The coalition took to the last campaign a solid commitment that they would give Landcare significant access to Caring for our Country pool of funds. They said they would listen to local communities and the now Minister for the Environment said he would put 'Landcare at the heart of our land conservation programs'. That did not last one budget.

This is the 25th anniversary of the Landcare movement in Australia and I congratulate all the Landcare organisations around the country. It has been said that for every dollar put in by the government, $2.60 is put in by individuals and organisations locally and $12 of in-kind assistance is also given. The 25th anniversary of Landcare's formation is something to be cherished and honoured. I congratulate the Australian Conservation Foundation and the National Farmers' Federation for the longstanding support and the initiation of this organisation. They have been behind it from the word go. The Chairman of Landcare Queensland, Mr Geoff Penton, said:

Landcare Groups in the Queensland should be extremely proud of their achievements so far. We're hoping to continue to support their long-term sustainability by forging partnerships with the corporate sector to help invest in Landcare and spread the Landcare message.

I say amen to that. Indeed, in November last year the now Minister for Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce, the member for New England, said that Landcare funding was safe from budget cuts. He did say that under the Abbott-Hockey budget, to use this expression, Landcare would be merged with the Caring for our Country program to form the National Landcare Program. But, as I said before, about $480 million has been stripped from the Landcare budget and I think that is a tragedy, a shame and a disgrace.

The coalition really have failed to understand its importance. They claim they are a party for regional and rural areas but they have ignored the entreaties of organisations who have suggested they should look at this particular decision and who have asked for a commitment from the coalition but, whilst receiving that, have been betrayed. I notice that the member for New England and Minister for Agriculture has been apologetic to farming and environment groups about that, but there is no doubt that the reduction in funds will put many future projects at risk. It is sad on the 25th anniversary of that organisation to see such a cut in the budget. It means that future rounds will be cut. As the ACF's chief, Kelly O'Shanassy, said:

This is a slap in the face for conservation heroes in the bush, in cities and on the coast who work every day to protect the clean air, clean water and healthy soil that we all need to survive.

I would add: in regional and rural areas such as mine.

The shadow minister for agriculture, Joel Fitzgibbon, the member for Hunter, correctly pointed out that we should be focusing on natural resource sustainability. I agree for once with the Greens senator Rachel Siewert, who said this was a slap in the face and would impact on volunteer and community organisations around the country. What we need in this country is not a split between agricultural productivity and improved environmental management but in fact an emphasis on them both. Indeed, about 75 per cent of dairy farmers are involved in Landcare and about 50 per cent of all farmers are members of the Landcare organisation, as am I a member of the West Moreton Landcare Group. I ask the government to reconsider their position in relation to this. Restore the funding for the benefit of farming communities and the environment.

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am delighted to endorse any comments in relation to the 25th anniversary of Landcare. I want to make a couple of points here. Firstly, this is a critical milestone for what has been a fundamentally important movement. I am pleased to have recently announced funding of $90,000 to Landcare Australia Ltd for the 25th anniversary events. This funding goes to support the Younger Landcare Program to recruit more young volunteers, the Junior Landcare educational resources for schools, which is investing in the next generation of young people who can be Landcarers, and the Landcare Hero Honour roll—all projects put forward by the Landcare movement and, in particular, Landcare Australia Ltd.

In addition, the Minister for Agriculture has announced a little over half a million dollars for Landcare Australia Ltd to run the 25th anniversary National Landcare Conference in September of this year and $4 million over four years to Landcare Australia to continue their work in promoting Landcare, recognising and celebrating the achievements and, most significantly, organising Landcare activities. On that basis, the CEO of Landcare Australia, Tessa Jakszewicz, welcomed the government's commitment. I think the quote was:

It is fantastic to see the Australian Government supporting this year of celebration as we mark 25 years of Landcare as a national program.

I want to mention two other things here, including the $2 billion of natural resource management funding which is for Landcare and Landcare related activities. The principles we take going forwards as to how we will proceed and administer Landcare are: simple, local and long term. These outcomes come from long discussions with the Landcare networks, with the NRM movement and, in particular, with Landcare Australia Ltd as well as advisory groups.

I want to deal with some of the misrepresentation from the opposition here. I want to turn to the budget papers and, in particular, Budget Related Paper 1.7, which is the environment portfolio. At page 27 it sets out clearly, categorically and unequivocally that the total NRM budget is a little bit over $2 billion over four years from 2014-15. In the midyear economic forecast that figure was $1.7 billion. This includes $1.28 billion for the new National Landcare Program, which, as we said pre-election, brings together Caring for Our Country and Landcare under a simplified arrangement.

It also includes $525 million for the Green Army Program. This is Landcare extension funds. We want to work with Landcare groups. We want to make sure that they can compete to be part of this, that they can participate, that they can have their projects advanced and enhanced through the work of the Green Army. It was always intended as part of the Landcare extension funding, and that is what it is. It is not just $525 million over four years; it actually extends to over $800 million over five years. It stabilises at about $290 million a year by year 5. So it is a very, very significant new extension program.

There is an additional $40 million for the Reef 2050 Plan; $9½ million for the Great Barrier Reef Foundation; money for the whale and dolphin protection plan; $210 million for the Working on Country program; and $203 million for the Land Sector Package, which honours a lot of pre-existing projects. That is the reality of funding: a $2 billion natural resource management package. The misrepresentation of the opposition is disappointing, and I am exposing it for what it is by referring directly and expressly to page 27 of the Environment portfolio statement.

On top of that, all of this goes to a very clear set of principles. Firstly, Landcare funding should be simple. Groups are crying out to be able to make simple applications. It should be local in its focus, dealing with real problems on the ground, and long term. They are seeking funding assurance. Those elements I am delighted to present to the parliament. I support Landcare and set out this new approach.

Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister and colleagues, it is not only what you do; it is how you do it that impacts on effective intervention. I rise today to speak to the motion celebrating the 25th anniversary of Landcare and to discuss the changes to Landcare funding announced in the 2014-15 budget. I am moved to speak today in order to raise the question: how will the government ensure that those dedicated to Landcare remain engaged in caring for land and environment across Australia as the government implements its new environmental policy?

Over the last 25 years Landcare has achieved incredible outcomes for our farmers, our farmland, our forests, our rivers, our coasts and our native vegetation and wildlife and, in turn, the quality of life right across Australia. Indi, my electorate, has a strong history of involvement in Landcare, and I would like to acknowledge, and say thank you for, all this work. In fact, some of the earliest environmental groups which developed into Landcare groups emerged in Indi some 30 to 35 years ago in Kiewa, Springhurst, Byawatha Hills, Upper Murray and Burgoigee Creek. These groups started as tree-planting groups. In my own community of Indigo Valley, in 1986 I was part of a pioneer movement that established one of the first actual Landcare groups in north-east Victoria.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and say thank you for the terrific work done by all volunteers in the Landcare movement. Thank you and well done. There are now 75 Landcare groups, including special-issue groups, right across Indi. These groups have done work on hundreds of projects, including tree and understorey planting, management of salinity and soil control, rabbit control, erosion, seed collection, planning wildlife corridors and coordinating weed control, including weeds of national significance.

While the environmental benefits of Landcare are obvious, the social benefits are also particularly important for rural and regional Australia. Landcare is an incredible movement of volunteers, providing opportunities for all people in the community to be engaged in social, economic and environmental work of great value. Getting communities involved in environmental issues sees the participants donate not only their time but their money and resources. Estimates from Landcare groups in Indi indicate that up to $8 of value both in time and in money and resources is contributed by participants for every dollar of government funding. Landcare has provided an opportunity for communities to take care of the environment that they live in while also encouraging them and providing them with a stable program to donate their money to environmental management.

I do believe that it is important that government has an opportunity to implement new programs to improve the environment we live in. While I support Landcare, I also believe that much has to be done to improve the efficiency of Landcare programs. Programs such as the Green Army, which the Minister for the Environment has just mentioned, and the tree-planting program obviously provide avenues to ensure that land management and sustainability programs can continue.

And this is where my real concern emerges. The government changes to Landcare will impact on many small volunteer Landcare groups. This will have an impact on many communities and their confidence in volunteering. As in most things in life, it is not just what you do but how you do it that has an impact on the final result. This is particularly the case with community groups who depend on volunteer effort. My questions to the government are how will the government ensure that the Landcare volunteers and the resources that they donate to environmental programs continue to be involved in these new programs? How is the government consulting with the community about how it wants these new environmental programs to be implemented? Communities know what is best for the land. Ask them what needs to be done. Involve them in the process. Make sure that all interested community groups and stakeholders are involved in the big changes that the government is planning. It would be a sad day indeed if, on this 25th anniversary, we saw widespread disengagement from volunteering in environment groups for the want of a focus on the how as well as the what.

Debate adjourned.

Proceedings suspended from 13:26 to 16:00