Putting Landcare back at the heart of natural resource management

LANDCARE has gone from humble beginnings to involve more than 6000 groups across Australia.

Terry Hubbard - President, Victorian Landcare Council at his home near Flowerdale

OVER the past 25 years Landcare has grown from humble beginnings to involve more than 6000 groups across Australia.

It’s about local people — whether they’re farmers, landowners, weekend warrior blockies, environmentalists, school kids or city people — all coming together with a common goal of finding practical solutions to fix local problems.

And practical change is the government’s focus for delivering environmental outcomes at the local level.

That’s why we’re putting Landcare back at the heart of natural resource management in this country.

Over the next four years we’ll invest more than $450 million through 56 regional National Resource Management organisations.

We’ve instructed the NRMs to allocate a minimum of 20 per cent of their funding to small on-ground projects delivered by Landcare and other community groups.

That equates to $90 million over four years.

On average this is more than $20 million a year available for small projects under the National Landcare Program.

It’s more than double what was made available by the previous Labor government.

We’re making sure that Landcare groups have access to more funding and more influence on environmental and sustainable agriculture outcomes than was previously available.

We’ve also recently announced an additional one-off $5 million in grants to help celebrate 25 years of Landcare.

Applications are now open for grants of between $5000 and $20,000 for a range of local projects. I encourage all community groups, Landcare groups, farmers and land managers to apply.

All up, we’re investing $2 billion in managing our natural resources.

This includes the Green Army — a new program to help train the next generation of young Australians who also have a passion for hands-on environmental protection.

The Green Army is complementary to the National Landcare Program. It will never replace the outstanding contribution that is made by the many thousands of Landcare groups and volunteers across the country.

Finally, I want to thank all of you who are part of the 6000 Landcare groups across the country. You make an incredibly valuable contribution with your time, energy and passion.

This Government will always support the incredibly important work you do. Here’s to another 25 fantastic years of Landcare.

Greg Hunt is the Federal Environment Minister and the Liberal Member for Flinders.