Landcare cut as Green Army invades (ABC)

View Comments ABC The Federal Government has kept most of its promises to farmers, but Landcare has taken a hit in the Budget.

Funding of Australia's long-running and popular Landcare scheme has been slashed, as the Coalition begins to recruit its promised Green Army.

The Landcare cuts stand out in a Budget that rejects some of the more drastic recommendations for agriculture made by the Commission of Audit.

The Federal Government has ignored the commission's calls to dump a swag of rural research programs and rural financial counselling services.

While there are some research cuts, specific agricultural research and development will actually get an extra $100 million over four years, while, over the same period, an extra $20 million will be provided to quarantine authorities to tackle pests and diseases.

Some rural programs are likely to be affected by cuts to the CSIRO, which will lose $146.8 million, and more than 500 jobs, over four years.

As well, the government has kept faith with farmers by maintaining the diesel fuel rebate and tax concessions for small wineries.

Agriculture and mining will share in the benefits of the big infrastructure program, including improved highways and better port access, while tax will be reduced on sea freight.

One Budget loser is the ethanol and biodiesel industry, which had been strongly supported by some members of the Nationals and Queensland independent MP Bob Katter.

Grants to encourage ethanol and biodiesel production will cease immediately, and excise on ethanol will be gradually lifted from zero to 12.5 per cent.

For rural communities, the most notable impact of the Budget will be the arrival of the Green Army, which begins in July and will build up to a 15,000-strong workforce by 2018.

The young recruits will be paid an allowance and will work on up to 750 projects, lasting up to six months, around Australia.

Their job description sounds remarkably like the duties already undertaken by hundreds of community Landcare groups - cleaning up riverbanks and creek beds, revegetating sand dunes, managing weeds and pests, and protecting local heritage sites.

"The Green Army will provide opportunities for young people aged 17-24 years across Australia to gain valuable training and experience in environmental and heritage conservation fields and explore careers in conservation management," Environment Minister Greg Hunt said.

The scheme will be run by 'qualified service providers', and will be funded with $525 million over four years.

At the same time, the National Landcare Program will lose $483 million of its funding over five years, but will still get $1billion.

The bulk of Landcare cuts will be to the competitive grants rounds, where small community Landcare groups apply to run grassroots projects. The way that grants will be allocated in the future is still being worked out, but government officials say existing contracts will be honoured.

As well, the remaining Landcare money will have to fund several programs new to its area, including cane toad eradication in Western Australia's Kimberley, $9 million of fishing programs and a strategy to protect the Great Barrier Reef, the $40 million Reef 2050 plan.

It is unclear how, or whether, Landcare groups and the Green Army will work together.

The Federal Government acknowledges that many farmers and food processors get a rough deal from 'take-it-or-leave-it' supermarket contracts.

The Budget offers $1.4 million to extend unfair contracts provisions to small businesses, which is aimed at stopping the inclusion of unfair terms and conditions in standard contracts.

The government has also reversed a cut made in the previous Budget, and will give the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation $200 million in capital to help small and medium-sized business wanting to increase their exports.

Across the agriculture portfolio, small efficiency cuts to staffing and programs continue.

The Federal Agriculture Department is losing 232 employees over the next year, about 4 per cent of its workforce, while its Budget will get a small increase.

Nearby 30 jobs will go when the National Water Commission is abolished.

The commission will shut down at the end of this, but some functions will continue through other agencies, including water market reporting and auditing the progress of water reform.

In health, an extra $35 million will be provided to help relocate and retain GPs in rural and remote areas.

A range of Indigenous programs will be abolished and their activities merged into one broader strategy, saving $534 over five years. On the other hand, extra funding will be provided to schools that accept large numbers of Indigenous students as boarders.

The government will go ahead with funding a replacement 'supercomputer' for the Weather Bureau, which will provide more climate modelling, more detailed forecasts and better information about floods, fires and cyclones.

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