PROTECTING OUR NATURAL ENVIRONMENT
Natural Heritage Trust of Australia
Australia's unique natural environment is a source
of enormous wealth, not only for rural industries and
the growing eco-tourism industry but also as a national
treasure that must be preserved for future generations.
More jobs and rising living standards
The Government aims to achieve a balance between the
environment and development. It is committed to strategies
that will produce jobs and rising living standards
while looking after our natural heritage - economic
development that is environmentally sustainable. The
Government's policies are aimed at achieving the right
balance between providing certainty for our primary
industries - which continue to generate 58 per cent
of our export income - and protecting the environment.
A $1.25 billion investment in our future
The Government will invest $1.25 billion over the period
1996-97 to 2001-02 on the most integrated and far-reaching
package of conservation and natural resource management
initiatives this country has seen, through the Natural
Heritage Trust of Australia Reserve (the Trust).
Following passage of the legislation allowing the partial
sale of Telstra and the establishment of the Trust,
it will be used to fund five capital projects:
- a National Vegetation Initiative to reverse the long
term decline in the extent and quality of Australia's
vegetation cover, with funding of $329 million over
six years;
- the rehabilitation of the Murray-Darling Basin through
the Murray-Darling 2001 project, with funding of $163
million over six years;
- a National Land and Water Resources Audit, with funding
of $37 million over six years;
- a comprehensive National Reserve System to protect
Australia's biological diversity, with funding of $80
million over six years; and
- a $106 million Coasts and Clean Seas initiative comprising
widespread activities over four years to protect coastal
areas, complementing the first ever national oceans
policy.
In addition, 11 other environment, sustainable agriculture
and natural resource management initiatives are to
be funded from the Natural Heritage Trust drawing on
Budget funding and interest earned by the Trust. Most
significant are:
- an expanded National Landcare Programme ($264 million)
with a focus on on-ground implementation;
- a new National Rivercare Initiative ($97 million) which
will make a significant contribution to the sustainable
management, rehabilitation and conservation of rivers
outside the Murray-Darling Basin;
- funding for a World Heritage Area Management Programme
($40 million) to improve management of Australia's
11 World Heritage properties;
- programmes to address nationally significant weeds
($24 million) and feral animal pests ($16 million);
- additional funding ($22 million) for the Farm Forestry
Programme; and
- funding for an Endangered Species Programme ($16 million)
and a Wetlands Programme ($11 million).
$187 million will be made available in the Budget in
advance of the partial sale of Telstra, subject to
passage of the Natural Heritage Trust of Australia
Reserve Bill 1996, to ensure that Trust initiatives
can get underway in earnest in 1997-98.
At the end of six years, $300 million will be retained
in the Trust to create a continuing income stream for
additional environmental and sustainable agriculture
projects.
Murray-Darling Basin Initiative
$18 million for a more productive environment
The Murray-Darling Basin is one of Australia's most
important agricultural regions, with output valued
at over $8 billion annually. Resources in the Basin
have suffered from agricultural and urban development.
Reduced river flows, problems with algal blooms and
water quality, expanding areas of dryland salinity
and other forms of degradation reduce productivity,
damage environmental values and reduce the quality
of life for families living in towns and on farms in
the region. In addition to the Murray-Darling 2001
initiative, funded through the Natural Heritage Trust,
the Government will provide some $18 million in 1997-98
for capital works and other activities in the Basin.
