Greens protest funding cuts

Issue 

Greens protest funding cuts

By Pip Hinman

Environmental organisations and the Greens (WA) have condemned the Howard government's decision, announced on January 16, to cut funding to voluntary conservation groups.

Greens (WA) Senator Dee Margetts pointed out that the government was penny pinching on paltry amounts, such as $170,000 for the whole of WA, and at the same time happily subsidising industry via schemes such as the diesel fuel rebate.

While the overall level of funding to conservation groups in WA has remained the same, it has been spread over a broader range of groups, resulting in a major cut in funding to the Environment Centre of WA, Margetts said.

The Australian Conservation Foundation, which has had its budget cut by 42%, has asked the government review its decision. Executive director Jim Downey said that the cuts would have a significant effect on the ACF's work and "make it easier for the government to continue with its unsatisfactory performance on the environment".

Environment minister Robert Hill has apparently decided that Friends of the Earth is ineligible for funding this year. Acting FoE national spokesperson Dave Sweeney called on Hill to "act in the proven interests of the environment" and restore FoE's allocation.

Sweeney said that for years FoE "have converted Commonwealth grants of under $20,000 into education and volunteer programs worth 10 to 100 times this amount".

Margetts described the government's move as "false economy". "These grants to voluntary conservation organisations are a very cost-effective method of ensuring that the community has an opportunity to have input on important public policy decisions that impact on the environment."

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