The support that Local Government provides to communities involved in environmental protection is under threat, due to new methods of allocating funding for environmental programs. The recently introduced Federal Government program, ‘Caring for our Country’, omits funding for the current Local Government Natural Resource Management (NRM) Facilitator Network, which employs staff to assist Local Governments in the implementation of regional NRM projects and programs.
Local Governments will now need to apply for environmental project funding, alongside better resourced Commonwealth and State agencies.
Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) President, Councillor Paul Bell, has made urgent representations to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett, and the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Tony Burke, about the decision.
Councillor Bell said it is shortsighted and was made without adequate consultation with ALGA and its members.
“Local Government is the closest sphere of government to the community,” he said. “It plays a key role in environmental and natural resource management throughout Australia. This role is particularly critical now, given the challenges we all face in terms of climate change and management of our precious water resources. I call on the Rudd Government to reconsider its decision.”
In March, Councillor Bell personally delivered letters to Ministers Garrett and Burke, urging them to reinstate Federal Government funding of the NRM Facilitator Network.
Councillor Bell said the network had been operating effectively for almost five years and, through its strong leadership and focus on locally based programs, played a major role in the remediation and stewardship of the environment.
“The message has always been to ‘think globally, act locally’,” he said. “I am concerned that in this case, we are overlooking the extraordinary achievements of Australian communities in conserving our environment, and the work that still needs to be done.”
Councillor Bell said the network has made substantial contributions to local and regional natural resource management throughout the country.
Details of the new Federal arrangements are at www.nrm.gov.au/funding/cfoc-faq.html
