Landcare will wait and see on funding

As part of the backpacker tax agreement that was passed on the last sitting day of Parliament for the year last week, the National Government has promised a one-off $100 million injection to landcare projects.

For Katanning Landcare, this news comes on the back of almost $200,000 it was awarded last week, which will ensure it can continue to operate for the next two years.

But Andrea Salmond from Katanning Landcare said until the details were known, it was almost impossible to guess how the funding would be rolled out.

Ms Salmond also has concerns about what the program will look like and how accessible the funds will be to smaller landcare organisations, such as the Katanning operation.

“While $100 million sounds like a lot, consider that the Green Army received $525 million under the last Government, and you can see that $100 million isn’t really all that much money,” she said. “While I applaud the Greens for pushing landcare and ensuring that Federal funding is secured for the environment, the challenge will really be in waiting to see how the Government spends it.”