CANBERRA: Turnbull government will spend on environment and biodiversity programs this financial year, an analysis has found. Coalmining companies alone are expected to get more back than the diminishing funding allocated to the federal environment department. The analysis by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) found that, across commonwealth, state and territory governments, investment in environment and biodiversity programs was cut by 9% from $6.95bn to $6.32bn in the three years to 2016-17. Total budget spending rose by 10% in the same period, from $634.9bn to $701.5bn.
It adds to a weight of evidence that environment campaigners and political veterans say shows government support for environment protection is at its lowest ebb since before the landmark decisions to protect Kakadu, the Daintree rainforest and the Franklin river in the 1980s.
ACF economist Matt Rose said it was distressing that public investment in the environment was being slashed while government budgets were rapidly growing.
“It shows that our elected representatives have made a clear decision to devalue our natural world and safe climate at a time when they are under enormous strain,” he said. “It robs people of the funding needed to make a practical difference for our environment through programs like land restoration, tree planting and removing invasive species.”
An initial ACF analysis released in December found the federal environment department budget was slashed by 30% over the past three complete financial years, with further cuts planned out to 2020-21.
A new paper by the same group says that while the federal environment department’s budget had been cut to a projected $950m, the commonwealth is expected to award the mining sector $2.5bn in fuel tax credits this year. An estimated $980m of that would go to coal companies.
Under legislation introduced in 2006, some businesses are able to claim the cost of the excise paid on various fuels (40.1 cents a litre for liquid fuels such as diesel) back as a credit against their tax. It has been justified on the grounds the excise is used to fund roads, and mining and agricultural businesses should not have to pay it for fuel used in off-road vehicles. Funding raised from the excise mostly goes into general budget revenue, which may or may not include roads.
