2023-06-26
The ACT Government is boosting investment to protect, conserve and restore Canberra’s natural environment and waterways with an additional $13 million allocated over four years as part of the 2023-24 ACT Budget.
Biosecurity and nature conservation
The government is investing $5.8 million over four years to strengthen the ACT’s biosecurity and nature conservation programs. This includes:
- Additional Conservation Officers with a focus on vegetation ecology and recreational fishing
- Habitat restoration to help protect high value conservation areas and the ACT’s plants and animals that are at risk of extinction.
- Funding to support the implementation of Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary Strategy and associated operations.
- Funding to partner with the Ngunnawal people as the traditional custodians of the ACT and other families and individuals with a connection to plan and deliver the programs.
- Strengthening the ACT’s biosecurity through expanding pest animal programs including vertebrate and rabbit control and additional resources to undertake weed eradication work across the ACT.
- A strategic and comprehensive review of the ACT’s biosecurity arrangements to support the ACT to plan and maintain strong and effective biosecurity measures into the future.
- Funding to conduct a strategic and comprehensive review of the ACT’s conservation arrangements to ensure the ACT is best placed to address the conservation and environmental management challenges of the future.
More investment in healthy waterways
Improving the quality of the ACT’s stormwater, lakes and ponds remains a focus for the Government. This Budget provides a further $8.2 million to the Healthy Waterways project, taking the total funding provided in this term of Government to $35.5million The new funding will provide a range of projects to improve water quality and catchment health across the region, including:
- constructing infrastructure to allow recycled stormwater to be used at playing fields in Kambah and Wanniassa
- construction of a new raingarden in Higgins
- extending drain naturalisation in Isabella Plains.
- collaboration projects with traditional custodians on water issues and catchment planning
- extended community education focused on reducing pollution entering our waterways
- restoration works in rural catchments
Quotes attributable to Minister for Environment, Rebecca Vassarotti:
We are in an extinction crisis, where the future of over 60 plants and animals in the ACT hang in the balance. We need immediate action to safeguard our precious natural environment.
With this funding, the government will continue in its mission to preserve our critically endangered species, including the Canberra Grassland Earless Dragon, saving them from the brink of extinction.
This funding boost empowers the ACT to take on the challenge of combating pest plants and animals more effectively. It will equip us to effectively address the escalating growth of invasive weeds, a consequence of successive La Niña years marked by increased rainfall.
This funding boost will also provide for a strategic biosecurity review which will allow the ACT to better combat invasive pest plants and animals.
This will ensure we can meticulously evaluate the ACT’s current nature conservation arrangements. This critical review will serve as a cornerstone for the development of a new Nature Conservation Strategy, which will guide our future endeavours in safeguarding our natural heritage.
As a city encompassed by a neighbouring jurisdiction lacking natural barriers against biodiversity incursions, we must remain unwavering in our vigilance. This announcement today is one step in safeguarding our biodiversity for years to come.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Water, Energy and Emissions Reduction, Shane Rattenbury:
Our waterways are such an important part of living in Canberra and we want to do all we can to keep them as healthy as possible.
We have seen improvements in catchment health and water quality and this increased investment in the Healthy Waterways Program will build on previous achievements.
This funding will enable us to build more wetlands to boost biodiversity and create beautiful natural spaces for recreation, continue education programs on caring for our waterways, mitigate erosion problems in rural catchments and conduct research to gather crucial data on pollution sources.
It will also support continued work to collaborate with traditional custodians on water issues and catchment planning and will enable the development of catchment plans to guide future work in our major catchments.