Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes that:

(i)

the week beginning 1 September 2008 is National Landcare Week, a week in which we celebrate the contributions made to Australia’s environment by many thousands of Australians who voluntarily give their time to local Landcare, Bushcare, Rivercare and Coastcare groups and in Indigenous Landcare groups who continue a long tradition of ‘caring for country’, and

(ii)

the theme of Landcare Week 2008 is to recognise our ‘landcare heroes’;

(b)

recognises the importance of Landcare groups and activities in promoting community activities, engendering community spirit and in fostering and promoting engagement, respect and concern for Australia’s precious and unique ecosystems and landscapes;

(c)

notes that details of the delivery of the 2008-09 to 2011-12 National Landcare Program remain uncertain; and

(d)

calls on the Government to provide continuity and certainty to community Landcare groups, and to ensure that the integration of local landcare activities into regional natural resource management planning frameworks is not lost.

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—We sought to amend the motion to note that delivery details for the Landcare program between the 2008-09 to 2011-12 years are being developed as part of a forthcoming Caring for Country business plan. The government will be inviting funding proposals from Landcare groups and others for Landcare projects that build upon the existing natural resource management plan framework. Unfortunately, we could not get agreement from Senator Siewert so we are opposing the motion but placing on record our ongoing commitment to Landcare, which was introduced by Labor in 1992.

Question agreed to.