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Crunch time for Labor’s green pledges

The federal government has pledged to protect 30 per cent of Australia's land and oceans by 2030.

The federal government has pledged to protect 30 per cent of Australia's land and oceans by 2030. Photo: AAP

The federal government has set some lofty environmental ambitions including warding off new extinctions and protecting 30 per cent of Australia’s land and oceans this decade.

It’s promised meaningful climate change action, super-charged efforts to shift to renewable energy, a once-in-a-generation rewrite of failing environment laws and an independent watchdog to enforce them.

It has plans to reverse the fortunes of 110 priority threatened species and safeguarded 20 places of special environmental significance that will serve as “mini Noah’s arks” for Australian wildlife.

And it’s detailed a new biodiversity credits scheme to get the ball rolling on a nationwide restoration of Australia’s environment, after a landmark report said it was sick and getting sicker.

It’s quite a list and Tuesday’s budget will be where the rubber meets the road, green groups say.

“When you strip away all the rhetoric and the good intentions, the budget shows you where the priorities of the government actually lie,” according to Australian Conservation Foundation campaigns director Paul Sinclair.

What’s funded and to what degree, will tell the real story about nature’s prospects and the rate at which Labor will turn away from fossil fuels.

“We’ll be looking very closely at the list of investments the Albanese government commits to,” Mr Sinclair said.

“They are indicators of a government willing to take Australia out of a way of doing business that has destroyed the environment, to a better way of doing things.

“They’ve said they want to do that. Now’s the time to actually show it.”

If the government is to even start the jobs it has set itself, it’s going to require a vast amount of cash.

Scientists estimate at least $1.7 billion is needed every year just to tackle the biodiversity crisis.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has made it plain that government can’t shoulder the costs of the repair job alone and will need to work with industry and philanthropic partners to mobilise private funds.

The biodiversity credits scheme that’s already been announced is one such example. Landholders who restore or protect the environment will receive credits for that work that can be sold to others.

It’s aimed at getting additional private investment into nature conservation efforts and it’s possible Tuesday’s budget will include seed funding for similar schemes.

Katinka Day, from WWF Australia, also wants to know how the government will fund the promised expansion of Australia’s protected areas.

The pledge is to protect 30 per cent of Australia’s land and 30 per cent of its oceans by 2030.

“Currently, terrestrially we protect 24 per cent of Australia,” she said.

“Increasing that to 30 per cent is going to require significant investment, whether that’s through Indigenous protected areas or the creation of national parks.

“We’re going to need, at the minimum, an area the size of Victoria to reach that 30 per cent target. It’s no small feat.”

– AAP

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