25th May, 2017
Matthew Groom, Minister for Environment and Parks
The 2017-18 Budget will see the Hodgman Liberal Government continue to invest in programs and works to protect Tasmania’s world class natural and cultural heritage.
Our picturesque State has an international reputation surrounding our unique natural and cultural heritage.
These are assets that we must protect into the future and with the State Budget back on track, we can invest more into protecting our extraordinary natural and cultural environments.
We have committed a total of $3.2 million to support the preservation of the critically endangered Orange-bellied Parrot. Of this:
Funding has also been committed to protecting aboriginal sites in the TWWHA with:
The Tasmanian Government will continue to take action against climate change, with an additional $3 million commitment to deliver a number of new initiatives to respond to a changing climate and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Actions will focus on: climate change research, improving energy efficiency, reducing transport emissions and supporting business, local government and communities to take action.
This represents the single biggest investment in action on climate change by any Government since the establishment of the Tasmanian Climate Change Office.
We are also committing funding for land, coastal and river management. This includes:
And to strengthen the financial resources of the Environment Protection Authority (EPA), Tasmania’s independent environmental regulator, the Government will be introducing an industry based environmental levy on marine farming companies.
The EPA plays an integral part in the regulation of Tasmania’s natural environment and waterways, and this levy will ensure the EPA has the resources to monitor and protect our precious environment, while allowing the industry to operate in a safe and sustainable way.
Furthermore, $100,000 has been committed to consider an appropriate model framework for establishing a Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) in Tasmania.