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Environment Centre NT and the Arid Lands Environment Centre lose Govt funding

The Finocchiaro Government is bringing the axe down on taxpayer funding to two Territory organisations. Find out which ones.

Minister for Planning, Lands, and Environment Josh Burgoyne outside of Alice Springs. Picture: Gera Kazakov
Minister for Planning, Lands, and Environment Josh Burgoyne outside of Alice Springs. Picture: Gera Kazakov

The Finocchiaro Government is bringing the axe down on taxpayer funding to the Environment Centre NT and the Arid Lands Environment Centre.

It is understood the two organisations, which were each receiving $100,000 a year, were told of the decision late Monday.

The organisations have met the same fate as the NT Environmental Defenders Office which was advised late last year it would lose its $100,000 a year funding.

Lands, Planning and Environment Minister, Joshua Burgoyne said the $200,000 in funding would be redirected to key environmental initiatives that focused on action, not activism.

“We will not spend another dollar on activists and economic vandals and their disruptive agendas,” Mr Burgoyne said.

“We will spend Territorians’ money wisely to protect our environment and restore trust in the independent authorities who work tirelessly to ensure our stringent regulations are upheld.”

The funding cut follows a pledge by the Chief Minister to cut business impediments and harm to the Territory’s economy the government believes green and red tape are causing.

This will come to a head in Territory parliament this week when an Amendment Bill, removing third-party merit reviews from the NT’s Petroleum, Planning and Water Acts, is introduced by Minister Burgoyne.

Mr Burgoyne said the government had been upfront about its agenda.

“We have shifted the policy agenda, moving away from the former Labor government’s focus on environmental groups contributing to reform initiatives, to our focus of growing our economy.”

Mr Burgoyne said the funding cuts to the Environment Centre NT (ECNT) and the Arid Lands Environment Centre (ALEC) showed the government was serious about taking action to provide businesses more certainty in decision making.

“We will protect our environment with stringent and robust regulations,” he said.

Mr Burgoyne said all decisions relating to planning, water extraction licences and petroleum activities were currently subject to thorough assessment by the relevant independent statutory authorities, the public exhibition process and rigorous assessment by the regulating agency.

“We are reprioritising to ensure timeliness of assessments and approvals,” he said.

Since 2020, there have been 18 third-party reviews relating to 10 decisions of the independent Controller of Water Resources, with the majority of the decisions being upheld.

Seven of these requests for review were made by ECNT or ALEC.

There are currently two reviews before the NT Civil Administration Tribunal which challenge the approval of environment management plans for onshore petroleum activities.

Originally published as Environment Centre NT and the Arid Lands Environment Centre lose Govt funding

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Original URL: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/northern-territory/environment-centre-nt-and-the-arid-lands-environment-centre-lose-govt-funding/news-story/ddf8cf8750b774c7861607035fd019b6