Vol. 16 No. 49
FREE PUBLICATION
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Pint-sized arrival The Fletcher family, including little Fleur and her mum Rebecca, have been getting to know the newest arrival at their Mockinya property near Horsham. Miniature donkey mare Alice gave birth on the Queen’s Birthday Weekend to the appropriately named Prince, pictured, and the fluffy newcomer has since won the hearts of everyone on the property. Picture: MICK SHANNON
Corporate Landcare call O
By DEAN LAWSON
utspoken regional community representative Darryl Argall has appealed to corporate Australia to help guarantee the future of major Landcare projects.
The chairman of Hindmarsh Landcare Network made the call as he outlined how a dramatic reduction in Federal Government funding threatened to cripple the ability of volunteer organisations to pursue environmental rehabilitation programs. He said failing in an effort to change decisions in Canberra, private investment was the only viable way to attract the money needed for the work. “To put it simply, the future of important volunteer organisations such as the Hindmarsh network doesn’t look too bright under the current Fed-
eral Government,” he said. “They are talking about a ‘Green Army’ to come and help but it’s not manpower we need, we have plenty of that with our fantastic volunteers. It’s money to collect the seeds, grow the plants, kill the weeds, prepare the sites and build the fences that we need.” The Hindmarsh Landcare Network, made up of various district Landcare groups, oversees Project Hindmarsh, an over-arching blue-print for a vast area of Hindmarsh Shire that involves everything from promoting sustainable agriculture to revegetation. Project Hindmarsh’s biggest event is the annual plantout weekend, which has for 17 years attracted hundreds of volunteers from various backgrounds across Australia to plant thousands of trees.
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The weekend, similar to other plantout events across the region, has evolved into a cultural gathering where volunteers from metropolitan centres and overseas mingle with rural people from the Wimmera-Mallee.
Financial pressure
Mr Argall, a former Kiata farmer, said the Federal Government had cut funding for annual network activities from $60,000 to $8100, placing enormous pressure on the volunteer organisation. He added that it was a far cry from more than $200,000 a year the organisation received 16 years ago through the Federal Government’s Natural Heritage Trust. “Thank goodness for ACE Radio’s financial help through Geoff Handbury which in part is there for the
logistics of looking after so many people for the planting weekend,” he said. “But we’ve had to dip into our own funds for seed collection, propagation, ground-preparation work, you name it. “We’re suffering to a point that we could end up having to fold because of a lack of government support. “It is so easy for governments under tight constraints to pick on the environment to cut costs, mainly because there is not enough people to voice their disappointment. You can knock off a few million here and there without too much fuss. “But it is time people stood up and yelled because our environment will be pretty ordinary in the future if we do nothing. I believe there is a moral obligation for the Federal Government
and the corporate world for that matter, to support projects such as ours. I encourage governments and big business to reinvest dollars into the environment, and volunteers and farmers who work their guts out to help keep in a good state.” Mr Argall said he was personally disappointed in the circumstances. “I’ve committed 20 years to this and we’ve always had some sort of reasonable government support. As it stands, if we can’t now get more corporate support we might have to close some of these important projects down. “Everyone has always agreed that if you have a healthy environment you have a healthy community. As it stands, we might not be able to pursue that ideal in the future.”
• Financial counselling funding fight • Wimmera 2030 • Careers Expo
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