22 May 1997 TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER
THE HON JOHN HOWARD MP
LAUNCH OF NATURAL HERITAGE TRUST
WENTWORTH FALLS, BLUE MOUNTAINS
E O E
Thank you very much Senator Robert Hill, the Leader of the Government in the
Senate, and the Minister for the Environment, to my colleagues, Kerry Bartlett and Jim
Lloyd, to other distinguished guests particularly the mayor in the city of the Blue
Mountains, to many in the environment and landcare movement who are here today.
There is no prouder day in the history of Coalition and the environment than today.
The launch of the Natural Heritage Trust which represents the largest single capital
investment in the environmental future of Australia. It is a great milestone in the hard
march of the Australian community towards a greater and more broadly based
recognition of the need to preserve, nurture and repair and build for the environmental
future of this nation. It marks the fulfilment of a major election undertaking of the
Liberal and National parties. I'm personally very proud of today because it is true that
wandering around the beautiful environment of Hawksnest beach which is my regular
habitat, I was certainly engrossed in developing an idea which had its fruition in the
announcement that was made in the Dandenongs during the election campaign, and
fittingly enough, given the proximity of the Blue Mountains to my home town of
Sydney, fittingly enough it is formally launched here in this environmental hut at
Wentworth falls.
Environmental protection and building for the environment is for ever a mainstream
issue in Australian politics. The days when it belonged to a radical or elite or
marginalised or noisy fringe minorities, those days are gone for ever. It is now
something that occupies centre stage as far as the Coalition is concerned and it is
something that has drawn the support of all generations. It is not just an issue in which
the young are particularly concerned, although they are deeply concerned in and
committed to the future of Australia's environment, but it is one that draws the interest
and the concern of all sections of the Australian community and all age groups and all
socio-economic groups. And it is no longer just about forests, although they remain
very important, it covers the full gamut of issues that any responsible government has
to deal with. Governments must now deal with air pollution, forest biodiversity,
oceans, rivers, salinity and land use to name but a few and the problems are immense.
Salinity and erosion are destroying productive land on the eastern and western
seaboard at a growing rate. Algal blooms threaten water supplies to towns and
destruction of habitats, threatens fisheries resources. The Natural Heritage Trust of
Australia is a mechanism, a very substantial mechanism for attacking these problems in
a concerted and effective way. It will have five independent environmental packages.
They will cover vegetation, rivers, biodiversity, land, coasts and clean seas. The
Natural Heritage Trust of Australia is about the shared goals of all Australians. It's
about a partnership between Australians which draws together our knowledge in areas
of government, science, the rural community, environment groups and the broader
Australian community.
It will of course make a very significant contribution to reducing unemployment.
There are thousands of jobs involved in the spending proposals under the Natural
Heritage Trust of Australia. This is not just an exercise in feel good. It is an exercise
in tackling actual problems, building for the future in a sustainable way and in the
process employing thousands of Australians, particularly in the rural and regional areas
of Australia. So it is a positive thing for the Australian community on every score.
Now, we had a bit of delay in getting it through the Senate because of the opposition
of other parties of its establishment but I am very proud to announce its inauguration
today. Of course there will be many major projects funded out of the Natural Heritage Trust
of Australia, and nothing of course will be more important than the clean up of the
Murray-Darling basin. Of all the things that we can do for the environmental future for
Australia, making a major and effective investment in repairing the problems of the
Murray-Darling basin as a centenary present to the environmental future of Australia,
nothing could be more important than that, and I know that that project is one that will
draw the support of all governments concerned, not only my own government but also
the governments of NSW, Victoria and South Australia. And I know right across the
political spectrum there will be a head nod in favour of the investment that has been
made out of the Natural Heritage Trust in the rebuilding of the Murray Darling basin
which is so important to the productive future of Australia, so important to the
agricultural future of Australia and that is the point that Robert made that we have
seen a fusion of the environmental and agricultural interests. No longer do they see
themselves as competitors, they see themselves as partners in building for Australia's
future. It also of course is a trust which is about a number of smaller, but nonetheless
important projects, and it Is a downpayment as it were on the future investment of the
Heritage Trust of Australia, I am announcing some expenditure of $ 1.5 million today
to cover such things as $ 102 000 to inaudible.., recovery plan in Western
Australia, in South Australia for the Kangaroo Island Black black cockatoo recovery
plan and in Tasmania the Swiss Parrot recovery plan, and also an $ 800 000 to
Queensland for control of rubber vine and prickly acacia as part of the national weeds
strategy and we've allocated $ 922 000 for aerial survey of salinity management,
something that is tremendously important. The whole challenge of salinity
management both in Western Australia and also on the Eastern part of our continent is
going to enable us to get a better handle on the extent of the salinity problem and allow
us to forecast where future problems will occur. And it's vital information in any
attempt to combat salinity and I will also be announcing, conscious of where I am, I
will be announcing later today special allocation for the Hawkesbury/ Nepean regional
strategy which is tremendously important for this particular area.
Ladies and gentlemen, they are some of the smaller but nonetheless important details
of the Natural Heritage Trust but the important message out of today is that the
Government has fully delivered indeed in money terms, has slightly over-delivered on
the commitment that was made in the lead up to the last election campaign.
No matter what view you have about the economic management of Australia, and
there is room for legitimate debate about that and I respect the range of views that
exists in the Australian community, there can never be any argument that no matter
what view you have about the levels of Government spending and the size of the
budget deficit and the investment here or there, there is always a strong argument for
investing capital in rebuilding the natural assets of this country and the environment of
course by definition is our greatest natural asset. It has been wasted, it has been
degraded, it has been attacked, it has been spoilt and it has been badly neglected and
that is a fault of all of us and it's a responsibility that the entire community must carry.
What this Natural Heritage Trust does is to set aside a sum of $ 1.25 billion to be spent
prudently over a period of five years in attacking some of the problems and some of
the legacies of that neglect and that natural erosion. It is very much something that
builds for the future of Australia. It is something that endeavours to attack the
environmental challenges of our nation in a practical, on-going, sustainable fashion.
It is not about the flashy, transient side of the environmental debate. It is very much
about the patient, mature building approach to the environmental debate and if a
government could hope in the years to come to leave behind a legacy of having done
something really substantial it couldn't be doing anything prouder and more effective
than this because we have recognised some problems. Over the years the quality of the
investment that we're going to make will become more and more apparent and I think
it will leave a great legacy for future generations.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am very pleased and very proud to formally launch the Natural
Heritage Trust of Australia. I want particularly to thank my colleagues, Senator
Robert Hill, the Minister for the Environment and Leader of the Government in the
Senate and John Anderson, the Deputy Leader of the National party and the Minister
for Primary Industries and Energy. Their partnership in getting together the legislation
for the Natural Heritage Trust, their partnership in making decisions about the projects
which are to be funded and their partnership in symbolising the fusion of interests and
the fused future of the environment and the land in Australia is something that's been a
very important driving force behind this project and I warmly thank Senator Hill and I
warmly thank John Anderson for the political leadership that they have given and I
want to thank so many of you who have come today, some a very long distance for
this little ceremony because your presence here today, so many of you holding
positions of great esteem and respect in the environmental landscape here in Australia,
your presence here today is very encouraging to me and very encouraging to my
Government. I feel very genuinely and very enthusiastically that we have entered a new era in the
environmental saga of Australia. I feel as if we are now, we have now reached the
stage where we can address ourselves in a practical way to solving some of the long
term problems and the long term challenges but the area of political flashiness is
smaller and the area of practical achievement is greater and I think that is enormously
important for the future of this country, it's enormously important for the future
particularly of the younger members of our audience and I am delighted to welcome
them here today as well.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for your presence and I have very great
pleasure in declaring open, declaring the launch, declaring and finally establishing and
finally arrived, the Natural Heritage Trust of Australia.
Thank you.