National Landcare Program
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The Senate Environment and Communications References Committee National Landcare Program March 2015 © Commonwealth of Australia 2015 ISBN 978-1-76010-184-8 Committee address PO Box 6100 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Tel: 02 6277 3526 Fax: 02 6277 5818 Email: [email protected] Internet: http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Com munications This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License. The details of this licence are available on the Creative Commons website: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/. This document was printed by the Senate Printing Unit, Parliament House, Canberra Committee membership Committee members from 1 July 2014 Senator Anne Urquhart, Chair ALP, Tasmania Senator Anne Ruston, Deputy Chair LP, South Australia Senator Joe Bullock ALP, Western Australia Senator James McGrath LP, Queensland Senator the Hon Lisa Singh ALP, Tasmania Senator Larissa Waters AG, Queensland Committee members to 30 June 2014 Senator the Hon Lin Thorp, Chair ALP, Tasmania Senator John Williams, Deputy Chair NATS, New South Wales Senator Louise Pratt ALP, Western Australia Senator Anne Ruston LP, South Australia Senator the Hon Ursula Stephens ALP, New South Wales Senator Larissa Waters AG, Queensland Substitute member Senator Rachel Siewert (AG, Western Australia) for Senator Larissa Waters (AG, Queensland) for this inquiry Committee secretariat Ms Christine McDonald, Committee Secretary Ms Meryl Hampson, Research Officer Mrs Dianne Warhurst, Administrative Officer Ms Ruth Edwards, Administrative Officer iii iv Table of Contents Committee membership ................................................................................... iii Recommendations .............................................................................................. ix Acronyms and Abbreviations ........................................................................... xi Chapter 1 - Introduction .................................................................................... 1 Referral of the inquiry ............................................................................................ 1 Conduct of the inquiry ............................................................................................ 1 Context.................................................................................................................... 1 Structure of the report ............................................................................................. 3 Chapter 2 - Landcare from 1989 to 2008 .......................................................... 5 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 5 Decade of Landcare ................................................................................................ 5 National Landcare Program 1992–1996 ................................................................. 7 Natural Heritage Trust 1996–97 to 2007–08 .......................................................... 9 Evaluations and reviews ....................................................................................... 16 Committee comment ............................................................................................ 25 Chapter 3 - Caring for our Country ............................................................... 27 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 27 Establishment ....................................................................................................... 27 Evaluations of Caring for our Country ................................................................. 29 Reports and reviews ............................................................................................. 40 Committee comment ............................................................................................ 44 Chapter 4 - Landcare and the 2014–15 Budget ............................................. 47 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 47 2014–15 Budget and Landcare ............................................................................. 47 25th Anniversary Landcare Grants 2014–15 ......................................................... 49 Responses to the Budget announcement .............................................................. 49 Committee comments ........................................................................................... 64 v Chapter 5 - National Landcare Programme .................................................. 67 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 67 National Landcare Programme arrangements ...................................................... 67 Program principles and design ............................................................................. 68 Response to policy principles ............................................................................... 71 Local ..................................................................................................................... 72 Simple ................................................................................................................... 86 Long-term ............................................................................................................. 92 Committee comments ........................................................................................... 95 Chapter 6 - Green Army Programme and 20 Million Trees ........................ 97 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 97 Green Army Programme ...................................................................................... 98 20 Million Trees ................................................................................................. 106 Committee comment .......................................................................................... 109 Chapter 7 - Other matters considered .......................................................... 111 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 111 Delivery of Landcare programs by the Department of the Environment and Department of Agriculture ................................................................................. 111 Interaction of national, state and regional arrangements .................................... 114 Public/private benefits ........................................................................................ 119 Indigenous engagement in Landcare .................................................................. 121 Research and development ................................................................................. 123 Chapter 8 - Conclusions and recommendations .......................................... 125 Landcare and the 2014–15 Budget ..................................................................... 126 The Green Army Programme and 20 Million Trees .......................................... 127 National Landcare Programme ........................................................................... 129 Delivery of Landcare programs by the Department of the Environment and Department of Agriculture ................................................................................. 133 Interaction of national, state and regional arrangements .................................... 133 Indigenous engagement in Landcare .................................................................. 133 Research and development ................................................................................. 134 Government Senators' Additional Comments ............................................. 135 vi Appendix 1 - Submissions, tabled documents, additional information and answers to questions taken on notice ............................... 139 Appendix 2 - Public hearings ......................................................................... 143 vii viii Recommendations Recommendation 1 8.14 The committee recommends that the Government provide funding to the National Landcare Programme to the same level as provided under Caring for our Country. Recommendation 2 8.16 The committee recommends that the 25th Anniversary Landcare Grants Programme be maintained as a continuing small grants program over the forward estimates. Recommendation 3 8.22 The committee recommends that the further information about Green Army projects be made publicly available. This information should include project timeframes, project status, and an assessment of the environmental outcomes both immediately following completion of the project and after a suitable monitoring period. Recommendation 4 8.25 The committee recommends that a comprehensive review of the Green Army Programme and the 20 Million Trees Programme be undertaken by June 2016 to ensure that the programs are meeting their stated goals and that the Commonwealth Government is receiving good value for money from its investment. Recommendation 5 8.33 The committee recommends that the Commonwealth Government consider avenues to ensure the continuation of landscape scale projects and to foster further collaboration between stakeholders on