the bandaid budget - weeds are taking over this state

Those volunteers who work tirelessly to improve our environment have good reason to disappointed with John Brumby’s bandaid budget.

Victoria has a crisis in transport, a crisis in water, a climate crisis, a housing crisis, a preventable disease crisis and a weed crisis. This budget treats the symptoms, but it ignores the causes of the crisis.

The budget contains insignificant amounts of funding to address the serious issue of invasive plants and animals.

“Weeds are overtaking our environment, they have a significant affect on water quality and quantity, contribute to extensive land degradation, impact heavily on habitat and biodiversity and create greater fire hazards”, said Samantha Dunn, Greens Upper House candidate for Eastern Victoria.

The amounts allocated to tackle weeds in high risk rural areas, for control programs in national parks and to outer suburban councils is paltry and just window dressing. “If the government is truly committed to tackling the weed crisis, then they need to provide appropriate levels of funding, this budget is a bandaid and a flimsy one at that”, said Samantha.

The Greens want to get to the root of our state’s weed problems and see effectively funded programs in place.

Hundreds of volunteers work tirelessly to rid our environment of weeds, but they need help, they need the resources to help them. Amongst many weed issues is that environmental weeds are not declared as noxious or regionally significant so local governments and community groups miss out on funding allocations through current state government programs targeted at noxious weeds.

However environmental weeds cause major problems in many of the interface regions of Melbourne. The problem is so great that the state needs to provide greater levels of support to community, to local government and to farmers trying to hold back what is fast becoming an explosive situation in Victoria.

“This budget has shown the government has little understanding of the problem and no commitment to truly tackle the weed crisis in Victoria.”