Photo © Tyrone LaveryWildlife Queensland is extremely disappointed at the lack of funding in the 2011 Federal Budget for programs to halt the decline of Australia’s biodiversity.
In October 2010 The Environment Minister Hon Tony Burke released Australia’s National Biodiversity Strategy which recognised that we are in the midst of a biodiversity crisis and acclaimed that ‘Business as usual is no longer an option.’ However the first budget after the development of this plan of action has revealed that the Government will continue to take a business as usual approach rather than upping the anti at a time when funding for the environment is needed more than ever.
The Federal Government has had a strategy to address biodiversity decline since 1996. Whilst this strategy had many short comings the fact that funding for its implementation was so limited has resulted in the continued inability to address the decline in Australia’s biodiversity. Unfortunately it appears we will continue to fail to protect our species from extinction with this new plan. If we are ever going to tackle the root cause of biodiversity loss, it must be given a higher priority and significant economic investment.
So what environmental initiatives were set out in the budget?
Continued funding is made available for environment programs such as Caring for Country and the Environmental Stewardship Program. The later program gives landholders access to grants to improve land management practises such as reduce grazing intensity, control weeds and feral animals and protect key species and ecological communities.
The Budget also delivers $10 million over three years to develop a National Wildlife Corridors Plan to link national parks and reserves with private land.
Some additional funding is set aside to continue regional marine planning however investments fall well short of what is needed to protect our oceans and meet Australia’s international responsibilities.
The Government has reformed the Fringe Benefits Tax concessions. This is a positive step towards addressing some of the Government subsidies that promote pollution.
Some new initiatives have been developed to look at sustainability such as $10.1million toward the new Measuring Sustainability Program which plans to develop a set of sustainability indicators to measure Australia's progress towards more sustainable communities. $29 million over three years has also been set aside for strategic assessments in areas of high population growth. Wildlife Queensland reserves their opinion on this proposal until outcomes are available.
What Wildlife Queensland is doing
Wildlife Queensland recently wrote to the Hon Wayne Swan Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer and the Hon Tony Burke Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities expressing extreme disappointment with the level of investment towards environmental initiatives in the 2011 Budget.
For more information on Wildlife Queensland's activities, call us on +61 7 3221 0194 or send us an email. |
