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

The decision by the Abbott government to axe the Grants to Voluntary Environment, Sustainability and Heritage Organisations program is irresponsible and irrational. The program has been running for 40 years. It costs the government a measly $1.3 million a year. Now, after no cost-benefit analysis or investigation whatsoever, this government has deemed the program unnecessary. This, together with the axing of $484 million from the National Landcare Program, is another example of the government's deliberate ignorance of the importance of the natural environment.

In my region, West Moreton Landcare will be badly affected by the axing of this funding. With its headquarters based in the beautiful town of Tallegalla, West Moreton Landcare was founded by Arnold Rieck 30 years ago and is being run by a band of hardworking, dedicated individuals like Bob Hampson, Beryl Wallace and Margaret Witherspoon, to name just a few. I was recently contacted by the President of West Moreton Landcare, Bob Hampson, regarding this funding. Bob said to me the following:

Any reduction in funding allocated by the Commonwealth Government to the Landcare program will make it more difficult for Groups to continue to undertake local, grass-roots projects and indeed, perhaps even to survive.

This group has done a lot of hard work, including minor restoration for the environment around Rosewood, salinity issues concerning Black Snake Creek in the Marburg region and other work it does for riverbanks and creek beds in and around the rural parts of Ipswich. It has been a great organisation and, sadly, it will suffer as a result of the Abbott government's budget cuts. (Time expired)