E&OE..........................................................................................................................
Your Excellency, Lady Deane, other very distinguished
guests including my Ministerial colleagues John Anderson and Robert
Hill, ladies and gentlemen.
This is the first occasion that I have had an opportunity
as Prime Minister to come to these Landcare Awards. And they do
represent a quite remarkable bringing together of different communities
in Australia who are dedicated to the care and the restoration and
the protection of our very fragile and special environment.
It is true, as the Governor-General said, that
the environment has now become one of those things that straddles
the differences between politicians on both sides of the political
divide. It is no longer an issue that only the young are interested
in. It is no longer an issue that only people living in areas of
the bush and the regions of Australia are interested in. It is certainly
no longer the preserve of those people who live in what are loosely
called the leafy suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne. It is now an issue
that effects everybody.
And at its grass roots, and at its best, and its
most basic and its most enduring the landcare movement represents,
in my opinion, the best expression you can find anywhere in Australia
of the enduring concern of Australians for the future of this precious
and beautiful continent of ours.
[applause]
And I am very happy on behalf of the Government
to say how strongly we support the landcare movement and how excited
my colleagues and I are about this gathering of so many competitors.
Now we also have a very significant number of sponsors,
and one of those sponsors of course is Telstra. I don't give
Telstra any special plug except to say that Telstra had a little
bit to do a couple of years ago with a little bit of money that
ultimately ended up being invested by my Government in the future
of the environment. And I am very proud of that Natural Heritage
Trust, very proud indeed.
[applause]
And I am also very proud of the fact that my two
Ministers have gone out of their way to make certain, through their
own actions, that that money gets to the right destinations and
I can promise you they will go on doing that. Because it is the
responsibility of governments to see that money goes where it is
meant by governments to go.
And landcare is going to receive in the coming
year about, or overall rather, about $280 million out of the $1.25
billion that has been set aside out of the sale of Telstra and set
aside for the Natural Heritage Trust.
Landcare of course is a great community movement.
It brings together on a voluntary and co-operative basis people
from all sections of Australian society who have a common commitment
towards, and a common love of the land which is held in us... trust
for future generations of Australians. And that is something else
about landcare which is so tremendously important.
And I think the other thing that I want to say
tonight is that it is an opportunity to remark on the importance
of non-metropolitan Australia to the future of our nation. I am
very conscious as I speak to you tonight that many areas of Australia,
despite the fact that drought has been put behind us in other parts
of our country, that there are still many areas of Australia which
are severely affected by drought. And I am very conscious as somebody
who grew up in the city of Sydney and has always lived in the cities
of Australia, I am very conscious of the different challenges that
face my fellow country men and women in the rural areas of Australia.
And the rural areas of Australia occupy a very
special place in my own heart, and they occupy a very special place
I know in the hearts of all Australians. And even though we have
a relatively small part of our population who live in the rural
areas of Australia they bulk very large in the export earnings of
our nation and they bulk even larger in the affections of the rest
of our nation. We understand the tribulations that you suffer, we
understand how important the nurturing of land is to your future,
we understand the massive contribution that the bush makes to this
nation of ours. And I have often said that I can't imagine
the Australia that I grew up to love, I can't imagine that
Australia, without a vibrant rural community. I can't imagine
that nation without its beloved bush and of course to have its beloved
bush we need to care for the future of the bush and that of course
brings us very much back to landcare.
Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Government
I express again my very strong support for the landcare movement.
It is making a magnificent practical contribution to the caring
and the preservation of our environment. I congratulate all of those
who have participated in competition for the awards that are going
to be made tonight. I thank the sponsors, all of them for the great
contributions they are making. And I wish all people who live and
work and have their future in the bush the very best of happiness
and success and I thank you for the wonderful contribution you make
to our nation.
Thank you.
[Ends]