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Minister's Foreword
This is the Howard Government's fifth Budget since it assumed office in 1996 and my fifth Budget as the minister responsible for the environment.
During the Government's two terms of office we have presided over an extraordinary diversion of resources to the refurbishment of the nation's natural estate.
Much of the additional money is being delivered through the Natural Heritage Trust, capitalised at $1.5 billion with most of the revenue coming from two partial sales of Telstra, by programmes administered by my own portfolio and by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry portfolio.
This year our combined spending on the environment is estimated at more than $1 billion. If realised, it would bring direct spending on the environment during our term to $3.6 billion, or an average of $728 million a year, 43 per cent more than the annual spending of the Labor Government's last year in office.
That, however, is not the complete story. Last year's mid-term review of the Trust revealed that every $1 of Trust money generated additional resources in cash or kind worth $7.
So Trust funding of more than $700 million until now has generated additional resources of up to $5 billion for the environment, more than doubling the direct outlays of $3.6 billion in the five years to end 2000-01.
As I said, a truly extraordinary performance, and it would not have been possible without the cooperation of state, territory and local governments, some enterprising firms, and the voluntary work of more than 300,000 people from communities throughout Australia.
According to the review, nearly 70 per cent of one-stop-shop programme approvals - the majority of Trust programme approvals - were for community projects.
This is more evidence that this generation of Australians can fairly claim to be environmentally aware and environmentally responsible.
Other valuable insights came from the review - the need to integrate programmes, for example, and to apply them across entire regions and catchments.
The new Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 comes into effect in July. The Act is the most significant reform of environmental law undertaken by an Australian government. It clearly delineates federal responsibilities and is designed to exploit the strengths of our federal system.
We set an international precedent with the creation of the National Oceans Office to manage our extensive marine resources to 200 nautical miles off the coast and beyond to the edge of the continental shelf.
The Office now has a director, who began in April, and is developing a series of regional marine plans, beginning with the plan for the south-east marine region. This region begins in southern New South Wales and arcs around Tasmania and Victoria to South Australia.
On climate change, we have committed more than $1 billion to honour our obligations under the Kyoto protocol. This is the first year in which a full suite of greenhouse programmes is funded. New funding this year is worth more than $200 million.
We have doubled spending on the Living Cities Programme this year to reduce atmospheric pollutants, reduce fouling of urban waterways, and stop stormwater systems carrying refuse into our surf beaches.
And we also are increasing our effort to help Australian industry apply the concept of sustainable development in its operating procedures. This concept is taking hold. Good corporate citizenship - less waste, fewer emissions and pollutants, restoration of any environmental damage, and more efficient energy use, to list some of its characteristics - is proving to be a net benefit to the firms practising it.
Many sustainable practices are the result of improved efficiency, which is improving the bottom line of many balance sheets. New technologies and services supporting sustainability also have obvious export potential.
It has been a rewarding year since the last Budget. This year promises just as much.
Robert Hill
Minister for the Environment and Heritage
