Bush Summit 2022: Prime Minister focussed on protecting the bush
The Government will continue to adopt plans to ensure the viability and prosperity of bush communities across Australia, writes Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Bush Summit
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As I crisscrossed our continent during the election campaign, I was reminded just how vast our country is.
Look at a basic map of Australia and you might just see the capitals marked out – little dots spread out like stars around the fringes of the continent.
It can be easy to get lost in their glare but you’d be missing what’s between them: the great constellations of communities that sustain us as a nation.
We sometimes talk about “the bush” as if it were homogenous but each community has its own character and its own set of challenges.
Right now, we are focussed on the threats of foot-and-mouth and lumpy skin disease.
A foot-and-mouth outbreak could cost the Australian economy $80 billion — a devastating number calculated not just in dollars but in mental health and in the very viability of communities.
The best way to stop FMD reaching Australia is to stop its spread through Indonesia.
That’s why Agriculture Minister Murray Watt’s first overseas visit as minister was to Indonesia, backed at home by the strongest biosecurity response in our nation’s history.
When it comes to climate change, it’s always worth listening to our farmers, who see its effects every day and are getting on with the job of dealing with it.
A key part of that understanding comes from a relationship with the land, sometimes built over multiple generations.
As Australians grapple with climate change and the intensifying cycles of flood, fire and drought, you deserve nothing less than a government that has your back.
That includes delivering post-disaster resilience funding to areas across NSW devastated by floods earlier this year.
While we look for solutions to the challenges we face, we’re also seizing the opportunities those challenges contain.
As we move toward net zero, we’re creating a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to protect Australia’s natural environment and kickstart a nationwide restoration.
We will introduce legislation to underpin a market for biodiversity. This will operate in a similar way to our current carbon crediting legislation.
With companies looking to invest in carbon offsetting projects like tree planting, we need to make sure there is a path for farmers and the environment to benefit.
We need to protect waterways, provide habitat for native species, reduce erosion, protect topsoil, improve drought resilience and create shelter for livestock.
Placing a market value on biodiversity helps us achieve that.
The government is, meanwhile, broadening the investment framework for the National Water Grid Fund to support projects that secure essential town water supplies in regional and remote communities.
We are also improving broadband so that all Australians have access to world-class digital infrastructure.
That is the energy that guides this Government: to represent the interests of all Australians no matter where they live.
That’s how we will shape a better future.
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