National Natural Resource Management Regions’ Working Group c/o 38 Tucker Road, Bentleigh, VIC 3204
The Hon Joe Hockey MP Treasurer PO Box 6022 House of Representatives Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600 7 May 2014 Dear Treasurer Commission of Audit – National Landcare Program We read with interest and concern the Commission of Audit’s recommendation that the “National Landcare Program funding should be halved and better aligned to the goals of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999”. The rationale for this recommendation was: While there are public benefits from the National Landcare Programme, it also provides funding for activities that deliver substantial private benefits and that landholders would have an incentive to undertake without public funding. There is also overlap between Commonwealth and State responsibilities and activity. Funding should be reduced and redirected to the activities with the greatest environmental externalities that do not provide sufficient private benefits for landholders to fund themselves. The National NRM Regions’ Working Group, a representative group for Australia’s 56 regional Natural Resource Management bodies, recognises that the Audit faced a massive task in a short period of time, but its recommendation lacks an objective understanding of how the Landcare Program operates: •
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The Program provides funds for environmental and sustainable agriculture works delivered by over 6,000 Landcare and thousands of other community based groups, farming groups and individual farmers across Australia; Through regional NRM bodies the Program uses sophisticated processes to identify cost sharing based on public benefit of those works. Various reviews illustrate that farmers spend $3 to $5 for every $1 invested by government in adopting best practice and this reflects the split between public and private benefits arising from those activities. It has been our experience that many landholders do not take steps that provide environmental protection and increase biodiversity without the incentive of a grant or the technical and other support provided by project officers funded through the Program; The regional NRM approach is specifically designed to address potential overlap issues between Australian Government and State/Territory Government activities by using
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regional NRM bodies and their NRM plans to align Commonwealth and State/Territory investments; The NRM plans do as the Audit suggests and direct funding to “activities with the greatest environmental externalities that do not provide sufficient private benefits for landholders to fund themselves”.
The National NRM Regions’ Working Group welcomed the Government’s election commitment that the National Landcare Program funding would be maintained and we have been working closely with the Departments of Agriculture and Environment on the design of the program. We are very concerned that the program is under threat based on a limited understanding of its extensive community involvement, benefits and how it operates. We would be pleased to brief you further on the operation of the National Landcare Program. Yours sincerely
Pamela Green Chair, National NRM Regions’ Working Group Cc:
The Hon Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Environment The Hon Barnaby Joyce MP, Minister for Agriculture