Another day, another tree scheme

Scott Morrison’s tree planting initiative is just one in a long line of tokenistic prime ministerial schemes that do precious little for our traumatised environment, writes Terry Sweetman.

Among the poems we were required to recite at school was Joyce Kilmer’s ‘Trees’.

You know it: “I think that I shall never see, a poem as lovely as a tree.’’

Among others who apparently are entranced by trees are generations of Australian prime ministers who routinely shake them to see if any votes flutter to the ground.

In 1989 Bob Hawke pledged to spend almost $100 million over three years to improve the environment, with $34 million to plant a billion trees to prevent soil erosion.

It was a commendably early political response to scientific beard-stroking about climate change.

The tone of subsequent commentary was that it was overly ambitious but it was reported that more than 700 million trees were planted before John Howard scrapped the program in 1996.

But few would argue with the nub of his announcement: “Too often short-term productivity has been emphasised rather than long-term sustainability … the Australian environment has been traumatised by these past 200 years.’’

Howard hung his environmental hat on something call the Green Corps, now a historical curiosity but one claimed to have planted 4 millions trees by 2002.

Scott Morrison, Senator Richard Colbeck and Liberal candidate for Braddon Gavin Pearce at Forico Nursery in Somerset, Tasmania announcing a forestry scheme last week. Picture: Sarah Rhodes/AAP

Then along came Kevin Rudd who dramatically proclaimed climate change as “the great moral challenge of our generation” and largely turned his mind to higher things such as curbing emissions.

His green moment was a National Green Jobs Corp which offered 18 to 24-year-olds skill training and work experience in bush regeneration, wildlife and habitat protection and flora and fauna surveys, through to experience in installing energy efficient building products.

Come 2013 and one Tony Abbott, who had been a lowly parliamentary secretary in the razor-wielding first Howard government, decided the answer to all this touchy feely emissions and climate change “crap” was a Green Army. This army was going to plant 2 million trees, but it was much criticised for being a jobs program rather than a green program.

However, later, then Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg said that target had been reached — just as he was scrapping the whole thing under the watch of Malcolm Turnbull.

John Howard launches his Green Corps initiative in Brisbane’s Tinchi Tamba wetlands in 1997. Picture: Anthony Weate

If you’re losing track and feeling a bit green around the gills about all this, join the club.

The last we heard about trees was at the weekend when Prime Minister Scott Morrison pledged $12.5 million for regional forestry hubs across Australia. According to him, the Government plans to add a billion trees to the national plantation in the next decade to meet a growing demand for timber.

That would seem to take us full circle back to Hawke’s scheme except it is all about jobs and dollars rather than restoring our natural heritage, despite the applause of our largely invisible Environment Minister Melissa Price.

Morrison said 52,000 Australians were directly or indirectly employed in the forestry industry, which contributed more than $23 billion annually to the national economy.

That’s terrific but maybe Morrison wasn’t listening when Hawke warned of short-term productivity rather than long-term sustainability.

All of these green tree schemes had their moments but I doubt anyone could seriously believe they represent a coherent long-term plan to restore our traumatised environment.

One occasion on which we recited Trees was Arbor Day when we planted a few spindly trees that were often left to die of neglect.

Sometimes I wonder if we have moved on from such tokenism.

Terry Sweetman is a Courier-Mail columnist.

@Terrytoo69