Budget Review October 2022–23 Index
Dr Emily Gibson
On the evening of the delivery of Budget October 2022–23,
the Minister for the Environment, Tanya Plibersek, announced that the Australian
Government was investing
$1.8 billion for the environment and that ‘the October Budget is a
down payment on strong action to protect, restore and manage our natural
environment’. Much of the investment reflects commitments
taken to the May 2022 election by the Australian Labor Party (ALP).
Great Barrier Reef
As noted in the Parliamentary Library’s recent Briefing
Book article, the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is an ecosystem under pressure. It
experienced an
unprecedented sixth mass bleaching event in late summer 2021–2022, the
first such event in a La Niña year. The greatest threat to
the GBR is climate change which influences weather patterns and the ocean’s
temperature, pH levels and currents, and intensifies the effects of other
threats such as cyclones and storms, flood plumes and crown-of-thorns starfish.
UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre and the International Union
for Conservation of Nature conducted
a reactive monitoring mission in March 2022 at the request of the
World Heritage Committee. The Committee will
again consider adding the Great
Barrier Reef World Heritage Area to the List of World Heritage In Danger at
its next meeting. The meeting was due to be held in
June 2022 but has been postponed.
The March 2022–23 Budget provided a $1 billion
funding package over 9 years ‘to strengthen Australia’s stewardship and
leadership in the protection of the Great Barrier Reef’ (Budget measures:
budget paper no. 2: 2022–23, p. 56; see also March Budget
review 2022–23 article ‘Great
Barrier Reef’, p. 75).
The October 2022–23 Budget provides an additional $204 million
‘to accelerate the defence and restoration of our Great Barrier Reef’ (Budget
speech October 2022–23). The Budget includes 3 measures, all of
which are partially met from within existing resources of the Department of
Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water:
- Reef 2050 Long-term Sustainability Plan – implementation: the
measure provides $96.9 million over 4 years to ‘address critical gaps
in the implementation of the Reef 2050 Long-term Sustainability Plan’ (Budget measures:
budget paper no. 2: October 2022–23, p. 74)
- Shovel Ready Catchment and Reef Restoration Projects: the measure
provides $91.8 million over 5 years to deliver a range of programs
including $40 million for catchment-scale land and coastal (blue carbon)
ecosystem restoration, $20.3 million to accelerate deployment of coral
reef adaptation projects, $18.3 million for projects identified in local
council Reef Action Plans, and $13.2 million for actions to improve
stakeholder stewardship (Regional
ministerial budget statement 2022–23, p. 36)
- Coastal Marine Ecosystems Research Centre: the measure provides
$15.3 million over 2 years to support improved scientific expertise at
the Central
Queensland University centre in Gladstone (Budget
paper no. 2, p. 58), which may allow it to ‘expand
research to new industries’.
Budget paper no. 2 indicates that $5.2 million
was a saving from the partial reversal of the 2018–19 budget measure Great
Barrier Reef 2050 Partnership Program (p. 63).
Protecting threatened species
On 4 October 2022, the Minister launched the Threatened
species action plan 2022–2032 which ‘sets
out a pathway for threatened species conservation and recovery over the next 10 years’.
This plan replaces the former Government’s Threatened
species strategy 2021–2031 and the accompanying Threatened
species strategy action plan 2021–2026.
Responding to the deteriorating environmental outlook
presented in the State of the
Environment 2021 report, the 2022–32 plan outlines
four 10-year objectives (including no new extinctions and the protection
of at least 30% of Australia’s land mass) and 22 five-year targets focused
on 110 priority species and 20 priority places.
As previously
announced by the Minister, the budget measure Saving Native Species
provides $224.5 million over 4 years ‘to support actions to slow the
rate of environmental and native species decline and lay the foundations for
longer-term support and recovery of Australia’s native species and special
landscapes’ (Budget paper no. 2, p. 76). As stated in the
Minister’s media
release, this includes $24.5 million for additional koala conservation
and healthcare, $24.8 million to manage yellow crazy ants and
$9.8 million to control invasive gamba grass.
The new 2022–32 action plan has been welcomed by
environmental organisations, such as the Australian Conservation Foundation,
and conservation experts. However, they also claim the
funding provided will be inadequate to prevent further extinctions and to
address the main threats to Australia’s native wildlife, including climate
change, habitat clearance and invasive species (see also: Senate
Environment and Communications Legislation Committee, Estimates,
Proof Committee Hansard, 28 October 2022, p. 20).
The Government has indicated that reforms associated with its
comprehensive response to the second independent review of
the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999 (Samuel Review;
see below), along with significant private investment through the Government’s
proposed ‘nature repair market’, will be necessary ‘to make progress on the biodiversity
challenges ahead’ (Senate
Estimates, pp. 19–20). Development of the nature repair market is
subject to the passage of legislation.
Budget paper no. 2 (pp. 62–63) indicates
the measure is partially offset by savings identified in the Government
Spending Audit, including repurposing $100 million
in uncommitted funds from the former Government’s Environment Restoration
Fund (Senate
Estimates, p. 18).
Refocusing national environmental
law reform
Released in October 2020, the Final report
of the Samuel Review made 38 recommendations to reform Australia’s
national environmental law, the Environment
Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).
The proposed reforms are considered essential to reversing
the current state of environmental decline across Australia’s natural
environment and iconic places. The proposed reforms are discussed in the
Parliamentary Library’s Briefing Book paper ‘Reform
of Australia’s national environmental law’,
while the approach of the Morrison Government, including March 2022–23 budget
measures, are discussed in the March Budget review 2022–23 article ‘Environment’
(p. 72).
The Albanese Government has committed
to providing a full response to the Samuel Review by the end of 2022, with
legislative reforms expected in the second half of 2023 (Senate
Estimates, pp. 44–45).
The October 2022–23 Budget includes measures which reflect
the Albanese Government’s different approach to consideration and
implementation of the reforms recommended by the Samuel Review. These include:
The budget measure Sustaining Environmental Assessments
provides $117.1 million over 3 years to ‘sustain assessment and
compliance functions’ under the EPBC Act and the Environment
Protection (Sea Dumping) Act 1981 (Budget paper no. 2,
p. 78). The measure is partially offset by savings identified in the
Government Spending Audit. Both the Samuel Review and the Australian National
Audit Office’s 2020 audit report on Referrals,
assessments and approvals of actions under the EPBC Act highlight
significant concerns about the effectiveness of the Department’s management of
referrals under the EPBC Act and monitoring of compliance with approval
conditions. The Minister’s media
release states the interim funding ‘will ensure assessment and compliance
activities continue while broader planning is undertaken to improve the system’.
Natural Heritage Trust Funding
The Natural Heritage Trust special account (NHT) was established in 1997,
to support ‘direct
investments in “on-the-ground” activities which restore and replenish both
environmental values and the productive capacity of natural resources’. As
explained in the recent National
Landcare Program phase two review report (p. iii):
The NHT is an ongoing funding appropriation for environmental
protection, sustainable agriculture and natural resource management, and is
delivered through phased multi-year programs that allow for a review point
ahead of the next phase of funding.
Since 1997, the Australian Government has committed funding
in the order of $1 billion to $2 billion over successive
5–6 year periods through the NHT, the Caring for our Country initiative,
and the National Landcare Program (see Figure 3 in the Review report,
p. 8). The most recent tranche of funding provided $1.1 billion
over 5 years to 30 June 2023 for phase 2 of the National Landcare Program.
The October 2022–23 budget measure Next Phase of Natural
Heritage Trust Funding provides $1.1 billion over 6 years (and
$2.5 million per year ongoing) to ‘support the sustainable management of
Australia’s natural resources as well as local and long-term environmental,
sustainable agriculture and Indigenous outcomes’ (Budget paper no. 2,
p. 68).
The measure includes:
- $604.2 million over 5 years from 2023–24 to ‘protect
and conserve Australia’s iconic landscapes, continue and enhance the Indigenous
Protected Areas program ... and support conservation and mitigation
activities in World Heritage listed properties and wetlands recognised under
the Ramsar Convention’
- $302.1 million over 5 years from 2023–24 to support
sustainable farming and land management practices, and contribute to agricultural
emissions reductions
- $90.0 million over 5 years from 2022–23 to employ and
upskill 1,000 Landcare Rangers and fund Landcare facilitators
- $66.5 million over 5 years from 2022–23 to expand the Indigenous
Protected Areas program, including the creation of 10 new IPAs which
will add 4.8 million hectares to the National Reserve System
- $57 million over 6 years from 2022–23 (and
$2.5 million per year ongoing) to support the recovery and longer-term
conservation of koalas and their habitat (this component carries forward a commitment
of the previous Government).
The cost of the measure is partially met from within the
existing resourcing of the NHT special account (Budget paper no. 2,
p. 68). At Senate
Estimates, the Government indicated the funding would support the
investment priorities outlined in Budget paper no. 2, although
program design is yet to be finalised (p. 21).
Urban rivers and catchments
The budget measure Urban Rivers and Catchments Program
provides $91.1 million over 6 years from 2022–23 (and $63.8 million
over the forward estimates) to ‘improve local waterways, fund activities that
restore the natural habitats of aquatic species and create recreational spaces
for local communities’ (Budget paper no. 2, p. 78). The
Minister’s media
release states this is the ‘first round of our $200 million election
promise to improve local waterways’.
The ALP’s Plan
to fix our urban rivers indicates the program will provide grants to
community groups and local and state governments, and is expected to fund up to
‘100 projects, depending on project size, with smaller community group
projects likely to be less than $1m and large projects involving state and
local governments eligible for up to $10m’.
Comment
Environment groups have cautiously welcomed the October 2022–23
environment-related budget measures. However, the Australian Conservation
Foundation argues that the Government’s new commitments such as ‘zero new
extinctions’ need
to be backed by policies, laws and funding – and not undermined by
continuing support for fossil fuel industries. Conservation scientists now
estimate that Australia needs to invest $2 billion annually in ‘proper
[threatened species] recovery plans, captive breeding programs, feral animal
control and weed management’ to protect Australia’s threatened species and
ecological communities. The Government’s response to the Samuel Review, and
synergistic state and territory actions, will be crucial in protecting
Australia’s natural environment and iconic places.
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