PM Transcripts

I am pleased to announce that the Commonwealth and Tasmanian Governments have signed an agreement under the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality to combat salinity and water quality problems in Tasmania.
The Bilateral Agreement sets out the arrangements for implementing the National Action Plan in Tasmania and enables funding to flow from the $700 million committed by the Commonwealth, and matched by the States and Territories, for national implementation.Together the Commonwealth and Tasmanian Governments have committed up to $12 million each of new funding for spending on activities to prevent and reduce the prospect of future salinity and water quality problems in the State.
Funding under the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality applies to 21 priority regions across Australia. Tasmania has one of those defined priority regions covering most of the State from north of Hobart and east of Deloraine.
Work in Tasmania will:
 focus on action to prevent salinity and water quality problems from developing to the extent common in other parts of Australia, as well as to address the problems that already exist in the State;
 invest in on-ground action to reduce the impact for communities, industry and the environment;
 build partnerships between the community, landholders and government through an integrated planning process; and
 augment the environmental repair work already underway in the State through the Natural Heritage Trust.
The Bilateral Agreement recognises that the active involvement of communities is fundamental to the implementation of the National Action Plan in Tasmania.
Strong partnerships with all levels of government and local communities will be strengthened to identify threats to natural resources, develop appropriate solutions, and effectively target investment in activities to manage and improve the problems.
Under the National Action Plan the relevant natural resource management regions will need to develop regional plans. The Commonwealth and Tasmanian Governments will jointly invest in action aimed at preventing salinity and water quality problems in the priority region, in accordance with these plans, and help to build the capacity of communities and landholders to deal with these issues.
Addressing salinity and water quality issues is the most significant environmental challenge facing Australia and will be a high priority for the Federal Government over coming years.
This is the third Bilateral Agreement between the Commonwealth and a state government signed under the National Action Plan. The Commonwealth signed Bilateral Agreements with South Australia on 8 June 2001 and Victoria on 2 October 2001.