Chapter 2: Environment Budget Statement Overview
Since 1996 the Australian Government has been building a national strategic framework to place Australia on an environmentally sustainable footing for future generations.
Our approach recognises the significant environmental, economic and social value of our natural and cultural resources. It recognises the prohibitive costs for future generations if we do not work cooperatively, strategically and with a sense of focused urgency to protect and maintain our natural and cultural heritage.
Today, we know far more about the wide range of benefits we receive from our environment. For example, every year:
- plant life in catchment areas produces clean water which would otherwise require millions of dollars of costly water treatment works;
- within the Great Barrier Reef catchment, tourism contributes over $4.3 billion every year;
- Australia’s food industry sales earn the country around $75 billion at the retail level; and
- the value of pollination to agriculture is estimated as $1.2 billion.
Our unique land, plants, animals and heritage buildings contribute significantly to our national identity and sense of social well-being.
We can pay a very high price for not protecting our environment. For example, land and water degradation, excluding the costs of weeds and pests, has been estimated to cost Australia up to $3.5 billion a year.
Our national strategic framework is based on a carefully considered approach to identifying where the Australian Government can most effectively make a difference. This entails leadership at the national level, integration across Australian Government portfolios and partnerships with other levels of government, industry and the community.
Our national strategic framework operates from a strong legislative base. In particular, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, that provides opportunities for economic development while protecting our environment, focuses on matters of national environmental significance. Under this Act, all issues that may have a significant bearing on a matter of national environmental importance need to be assessed by the Environment Minister before the Minister grants approval. During 2003, that legislative focus has broadened to provide, for the first time, protection for places of national heritage significance.
Our Land and Water
Our approach to land and water management is built on partnerships across Australian governments and with regional communities. Our land management programmes have a regional focus. New partnerships are coming together at the regional level to direct investments strategically towards long-term outcomes for the environment and agriculture. The Howard Government has led the development of major national policies such as the Living Murray Initiative and the National Vegetation Framework to address critical environmental issues.
Major initiatives such as the newly extended $3.0 billion Natural Heritage Trust (the Trust), the $1.4 billion National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality (the NAP) and the $500 million Living Murray Initiative provide record amounts of resources to underpin the strategy.
This Budget will provide an extra $300 million to continue the Natural Heritage Trust (the Trust), the largest and most successful environmental rescue effort ever undertaken in Australia’s history into 2007-08. This new funding will build on the unprecedented level of investment in our environment adding a twelfth year to the Trust and bringing total investment in the Trust to $3.0 billion. Introduced by the Howard Government in 1996-97, the Trust will continue to provide the foundation for a sustainable Australia with funding for practical, strategic and results oriented actions by the Australian people and all levels of government.
The 2004-05 Budget allocation is $152.7 million for the NAP and $310 million for the Trust, up from $113.8 million and $250 million in 2003-04, respectively. In 2004-05, over $300 million will be invested through regional natural resource management organisations from these two programmes.
Australia’s landscapes and waterways face serious threats which, if not tackled urgently, have implications for our capacity as a major agricultural producer and exporter and our ability to conserve our native species and ecological communities. The regionally focussed approach to improving the sustainability of Australia’s primary production, while maintaining environmental action, is already yielding benefits as good farm management is aligned with better management of our soil, water and forests.
With over 4000 Landcare groups including about 120,000 volunteers across Australia, the Landcare programme is a model for community involvement in natural resource management. It is estimated that 75 per cent of all farmers have benefited from Landcare information.
This Budget extends the National Landcare Programme by two years by providing an additional $80 million ($40 million in both 2006-07 and 2007-08). This brings the Howard Government’s total investment in this programme to $159.5 million over the next four years.
Australia is the driest continent on Earth (after Antarctica) with only one per cent of the world’s water. Each year, on average, every Australian uses more than one million litres of freshwater, leading to a national consumption of more than 24,000 gigalitres of water. The recent drought has highlighted the need for urgent action to ensure more sustainable use of our water resources.
The Murray-Darling Basin extends from north of Roma in Queensland to Goolwa in South Australia, and includes three quarters of New South Wales and half of Victoria. The Basin is the heartland and the economic powerhouse of rural Australia. It extends across one-seventh of the continent and has a population of nearly two million people. Another million people outside the region depend heavily upon its resources.
Management of this system’s water is a national environmental and economic imperative. This budget reaffirms the landmark $200 million for a Basin-wide strategic approach to water over-allocation in the Murray-Darling Basin agreed at COAG in August 2003, announced in the 2003-04 Additional Estimates. This $200 million contribution is proof of the Howard Government's commitment to partnerships with the State and Territory Governments to improve the health of one of our biggest natural icons, the Murray River system. It is subject to satisfactory agreement between the partners on the introduction of the National Water Initiative.
In 2004-05 the Howard Government investment in the Basin will reach close to $1 billion including funding from the Trust, NAP and financial support for the Murray-Darling Basin Commission.
The Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council, chaired by the Hon Warren Truss, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, guides the Living Murray Initiative across all levels of government and the community. The Ministerial Council includes the Australian Government and State Ministers responsible for land, water and environmental resources in the Basin in a collaborative partnership.
The Government will provide an additional $67.0 million over four years to the Murray-Darling Basin Commission (MDBC) to fund capital works, administration and education activities, and to establish a “renewals annuity” for capital replacement and major cyclical maintenance.
This funding is in addition to $19.5 million over four years allocated to the MDBC and already included in the forward estimates.
The Commission is responsible for managing assets such as dams and weirs, overseeing salinity mitigation works, and providing strategic direction and support for natural resource management initiatives in the Murray-Darling Basin.
Efforts will be concentrated on maintaining momentum with salinity management, restoration of healthy floodplain forests and wetlands, expanding the geographic range of native fish and improving the habitat for migratory water birds.
The Living Murray implementation program is delivering results. Arrangements for watering stressed River Redgums on the Chowilla floodplain and operation of the new fish ladders on the River Murray are underway. The dredging program at the Murray Mouth has provided sufficient tidal surge to replenish the water at the Coorong.
Our Biodiversity
Australia’s biodiversity is essential to our economic prosperity, our cultural identity and our future as a sustainable continent. This Budget contains a new measure to protect biodiversity hotspots in Australia. Biodiversity hotspots are areas rich in species diversity and also facing immediate threat. Taking action in these areas, we will be able to save more species for every dollar we spend. Details of the new measure will be announced after the Budget.
This new measure complements the commitment to address the needs of biodiversity hotspots in the Pacific and South East Asia through the existing $10.0 million programme over three years commencing in 2003-04 to protect and manage critically endangered places in the Pacific and South East Asia.
Our Coasts and Reefs
Our island continent requires a strategic focus on ecologically sensitive areas of our coasts and reefs. With 85 per cent of Australia’s population living on or near the coast the natural heritage values of these areas are increasingly threatened by land-based activities.
The 2004-05 Budget provides an additional $30.3 million over three years for new initiatives to support the rezoning of the Great Barrier Reef. From 1 July 2004 the visionary Representative Areas Programme for the Great Barrier Reef will ensure the protection of the Reef, the world’s largest world heritage area, for future generations. The Howard Government will invest $176.4 million for the protection of the Great Barrier Reef over the next four years.
A seven-fold increase in protected zones and marine sanctuaries within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park - from 4.5 to 33.3 per cent - will create the largest network of protected marine areas in the world. The plan is based on one of the most extensive and comprehensive community consultations in Australia's history - including 31,000 public submissions – and on the best advice from the Australian and international scientific community.
Each of the 70 bioregions in the Marine Park is now represented in a highly protected zone (or Green Zone) where extractive activities are prohibited. The integrity of the Reef for future generations and the livelihoods of the many Australians who depend on the Reef for income or recreation will be maintained. Protection for these bioregions will help marine species recover and will lead to an increase in both the number and size of fish and other marine species.
Any programme of this scale will have unavoidable economic impacts on commercial users of the Reef, including the fishing industry and their communities. Recognising that policy interventions should balance environmental, economic and social goals, the Australian Government has agreed to a structural adjustment package for those who may be adversely impacted by the implementation of the Plan. The 2004-05 Budget allocates $10.2 million over two years for this package.
This new zoning plan is just one of the Australian Government's environmental initiatives to ensure the future protection of the Reef. The Crown of Thorns Starfish Control Programme is in its third year, with $0.9 million over three years being provided to support continuing efforts to mitigate these outbreaks.
In December 2003 the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan to protect the Reef from land-based pollution was announced. The Great Barrier Reef Coastal Wetland Protection Programme complements this effort.
The Australian Government is also funding water improvement projects to reduce pollutants entering identified coastal water quality ‘hotspots’. With State and Territory Ministers, the Australian Government endorsed a Framework for a National Cooperative Approach to Integrated Coastal Zone Management in October 2003.
Our Oceans
Since the launch of Australia’s Oceans Policy in 1998, and as the country with the world’s greatest area of ocean territory, Australia has been regarded as a world leader in oceans planning and management. In 2004 the Australian Government will launch the world’s first-ever regional marine plan covering some two million square kilometres of Australia’s southeast oceans. This plan provides the framework for the sustainable development of the area, which employs over 75,000 Australians, has industries worth over $19 billion per year and a rich abundance of biodiversity including some 600 distinct species of fish, 85 per cent of which are endemic.
In this year’s Budget, $9.3 million is being provided in 2004-05 to support this plan and to develop two more plans for northern and southwest Australia.
Building on a 25 year tradition initiated by the Coalition Government under Prime Minister Fraser, the Australian Government will continue to support whale sanctuaries and will boost the fight to stop the slaughter of whales for commercial use, including under the guise of so-called "scientific-whaling". In 2004 the Australian Government was presented with a Gift to the Earth by the World Wide Fund for Nature for its contribution to this globally significant campaign.
Our Climate
Climate change is an important global challenge that requires long-term effective action at the domestic and international level. The impacts of climate change on Australia are almost certainly being felt already in changes to rainfall and storm patterns, water temperatures, sea levels and other natural phenomena which influence our environment and the industries which depend on it, such as agriculture and tourism. In this Budget the Australian Government undertakes a significant strengthening of its actions to respond to climate change through a thorough revision of greenhouse programmes. This year’s Budget delivers a $70.3 million funding boost for greenhouse strategies to support the climate change strategy.
The additional $70.3 million allocated to the climate change strategy will build on our existing commitments, providing a total of $463.6 million over four years. This includes $260.0 million over four years for eleven new measures that will limit Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining a strong and competitive economy.
In 2004-05, $116.6 million will be invested through the Australian Greenhouse Office in action on climate change. In addition, $2.5 million will be provided in 2004-05 to the Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator for the continued administration of the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target.
These new and continuing measures will strengthen the Howard Government’s response to climate change with international action at multilateral, regional and bilateral levels. We are also on track domestically to meet our internationally agreed target in partnership with industry, business, government, land managers and the community. Our climate change policy will continue to be underpinned by sound science and emissions measurement capacity and we will introduce innovative work to identify and assess climate change impacts and devise adaptation measures to reduce their environmental, economic and social consequences.
Our Cities
The Year of the Built Environment was initiated in 2004 to encourage the development of a sustainable, energy efficient, safe, and healthy built environment. All State and Territory governments, peak building and construction industry organisations, professional bodies and a wide range of interest groups and individuals in the community have endorsed the Australian Government initiative and are developing their own programmes of activity.
In 2004-05, the Australian Government will continue to develop policies, partnerships and programmes to improve our built environment. Our strategic focus will be on the development of common national standards for the sustainability of our built environment. This will include introduction of legislation for a national water efficiency labelling and standards scheme; scoping of additional standards for toxic air pollutants; reviewing existing national sulphur dioxide and ground-level ozone standards; and investigating the strengthening of the environmental aspects of national building codes and standards.
More than 17 million Australians live in our cities, posing ongoing challenges for those working to achieve the right balance between urban development and environmental protection. In 2004-05 the Australian Government will commit $6.5 million, an increase of $1 million on 2003-04, on practical projects to make urban life more sustainable, through the Sustainable Cities Programme. Initiatives will include investment in cycling facilities, water efficiency labelling, and national standards of air pollution and fuel quality, as well as ensuring that community members and decision-makers have access to national information on the state of our urban environment.
Nearly all of Australia’s 20 million people are taking action to improve our environment.
For example, 2003 figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that about 95 per cent of Australian households now recycle waste, up 12 per cent from 1996, and the number of households reusing waste, such as plastics and glass, has more than doubled, rising a staggering 45 per cent since 1996 to 83 per cent of households in 2003.
On the roads people are using more environmentally friendly fuels. With leaded petrol now phased out, and the introduction of new technologies, the use of unleaded petrol is up from 54 per cent in 1996 to 83 per cent in 2003, helping to make Australia’s air amongst the cleanest in the world.
Levels of carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide have also declined since 1991, with levels in our capital cities now well below the national standards for these pollutants. This has led to a direct improvement in the quality of the air in our capital cities, a reduction in indirect health costs, and an improvement in the quality of life for Australian families.
Water use remains a critical issue with overall water use trends on the rise. However, we are changing our attitudes towards water, introducing more efficient appliances into our homes and responding to new pricing and metering systems. Latest data show that per capita water consumption has also been significantly reduced by 21 per cent in major urban centres in Australia over the past 25 years.
Our Heritage
National heritage defines the critical moments in our development as a nation. Our distinctive natural and cultural places help give Australia its national identity.
For the first time in Australia’s history, we now have national legislation that provides the framework for the recognition and protection of our greatest national treasures. The Australian Government has provided funding of more than $52 million over four years, for Distinctively Australian to identify and protect Australia's places of outstanding national heritage significance. The programme commenced in 2003-04.
In 2004-2005, $15.4 million will be allocated to assist the nomination process and engage all Australians in helping to protect our national heritage. Amendments to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, which came into effect on 1 January 2004, have established a National Heritage List that will ensure the management, protection and appreciation of Australia's outstanding heritage places.
In launching the Distinctively Australian programme, the Prime Minister invited all Australians to nominate places they would like to have included in the National and Commonwealth Heritage Lists. Places already nominated include the Royal Exhibition Building, Recherche Bay, Point Nepean, and the dinosaur tracks of Lark Quarry.
The Howard Government continues its investment in restoring cultural heritage places. The Government in this Budget will provide $5.5 million in 2003-04 for the restoration of St George’s Cathedral in Perth and St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne. This funding will support efforts to repair and preserve these heritage buildings. Funding for St Paul’s Cathedral is in addition to funding of $2.5 million provided in 2001-02.
Our Antarctic Territories
Australia is committed to protecting the Antarctic environment through its work in Antarctica and its role in the Antarctic Treaty System which includes the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. In 2004-2005, Australia will commit $88.6 million to the Antarctic.
Australia is the first nation in Antarctica to harness wind power as a renewable energy source and as an alternative to diesel. The installation of two wind turbines at Mawson Station has reduced diesel fuel consumption from 600,000 litres to approximately 440,000 litres in the 12 months to March 2004. Environmental impacts have been reduced, as less fuel needs to be transported and stored at Mawson. This project represents a major step forward in Australia’s environmental care of Antarctica.
Waste materials remaining in Antarctica from previous human activities are a major issue facing nations with Antarctic operations. Australia is committed to reducing our Antarctic waste and is leading Antarctic nations in clean up efforts. Over 1000 tonnes of waste were removed from the old Thala Valley tip site at Casey station in 2003-04. This clean up involved innovative remediation techniques and comprehensive environmental monitoring to ensure that the best possible results for the environment were achieved.
Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing for Patagonian Toothfish threatens fish stocks and biodiversity on the high seas. Australia is taking strong measures to combat IUU fishing and Australia continues to play a lead role in the Commission for the Conservation of the Antarctic Living Marine Resources by working with other key Commission members towards implementing a centralised Vessel Monitoring System. Australia is also continuing to seek improvements to the Catch Documentation Scheme to ensure fishers comply with the requirements of the Commission in relation to the catch of toothfish. In this Budget the Government will provide $89.3 million over two years to enhance Australia’s patrol capacity in the Southern Ocean.
Our Whole-of-Government Approach
The Australian Government recognises that the sustainability of our continent cannot be achieved by treating environment and heritage issues in isolation. From the leadership of the Prime Minister and the Sustainable Environment Committee of Cabinet, to the joint management and delivery arrangements of the Trust and the NAP, we have an integrated, whole of government approach.
Policy development, decision-making, programme delivery and design, regional planning and on the ground implementation are based on collaboration and partnership. This also applies to the contributions of portfolios which have recognised the need for sustainability in their own programmes and practices, and offer valuable contributions to our shared goal of a sustainable Australia. A range of portfolios contribute to this record whole-of-government investment in 2004-05 including:
|
$43.9 million |
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$280.0 million |
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$351.6 million |
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$62.5 million |
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$65.8 million |
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$39.7 million |
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$25.6 million |
As another example of this whole-of-government approach, the CSIRO is allocating $231.9 million in 2004-05 to the search for a sustainable Australia through research. The Australian Government ensures that the best of Australian research capacity informs the development of a sustainable continent. An environmentally sustainable Australia was one of four national research priorities announced by the Prime Minister in late 2002.
In Backing Australia's Ability the Australian Government has initiated a strategic approach to ensure sustainability is built into a range of research initiatives. The CSIRO National Research Flagships initiative aims to deliver scientific solutions to advance national objectives such as clean, cost-efficient energy; more productive and sustainable use of water; sustainable wealth from our oceans; and growth and prosperity for regional Australia.
Our Community
This Budget will continue to support community efforts by providing funds, establishing networks and building the foundations on which we all can lend a hand to putting Australia on a more sustainable path.
At the heart of the Howard Government’s approach to the environment are the households, businesses, local community groups and volunteers that are at the front line of environmental action. It is only when the community is aware of environmental issues and takes action that we will reach our goal of a sustainable Australia.
Community empowerment is central to the newly extended $3.0 billion Natural Heritage Trust. Hundreds of Australian Government facilitators are working with local governments and community groups. At the local level, the Australian Government Envirofund has supported over 3314 projects since its inception in 2002-2003. In 2001, 220,000 people were members of catchment management or Landcare groups, and an additional 380,000 people were inspired to volunteer and lend a hand to work on land management projects from our oceans and coasts, cities and towns to the arid lands in the centre of our continent under the banner of the Natural Heritage Trust.
About 750 facilitators are funded by the Trust and the National Action Plan to operate at local, regional and statewide/national levels. They perform a vital role in assisting local communities to organise environmental action that achieves their priorities.
The national network includes 13 Indigenous Land Management Facilitators to assist Indigenous involvement in regional planning and ensure that the 17 per cent of Australia under Indigenous ownership is managed more sustainably.