Plant begins to take root.
Good news and bad news in the Federal Budget
What’s in the 2009-10 Federal Budget for the environment? Here we list the good and the bad news on everything from solar energy and public transport to coal and nuclear waste.
Good news
- Public transport: More than half (55 per cent) the new ‘Nation Building Infrastructure’ money is earmarked for public transport –$4.6 billion is for metropolitan rail projects, while $3.4 billion goes to roads and $389 million to ports.
- Solar: $1.4 billion of new money over six years as part of the ‘Solar Flagships’ program.
- Green skills development: $26.9 million over four years as part of the ‘Skills for the Carbon Challenge’ program.
- Indigenous rangers: $69 million over five years for 210 new environmental jobs for Indigenous rangers.
- National parks: $33 million of new funding, including more funds for Kakadu.
- Renewable energy research: $465 million to establish a new body, Renewables Australia, to research renewable energy technologies.
- Smart grid: $100 million in 2009-10 to develop a pilot smart grid energy network, combining broadband with smart grid and smart meters.
- Energy efficiency: $64.6 million to help Australians choose more energy efficient appliances, homes and buildings.
- Nuclear disarmament commission: $9.2 million over two years to advance nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation efforts internationally.
Bad news
- Subsidies that drive pollution: No change to the fringe benefits tax concession on company cars – a perverse subsidy that costs taxpayers $2 billion a year and encourages people to drive company cars more. No change to the fuel tax credits scheme, a scheme that continues to subsidise the fuel use of some of Australia’s biggest polluting companies.
- Environmental research: For a saving of just $16 million the Government has dropped all funding for Land & Water Australia. Funding has been cut for the Rural Industries Research & Development Corporation ( – 12 million) and the Commonwealth Environmental Research Facilities Program ( – $10 million).
- Coal: $2 billion of new funds over nine years for carbon capture and storage. The companies that make huge profits from mining and burning coal should fund this research.
- Green loans: funding for the green loans program has been cut, with the number of loans to be reduced from 200,000 to 75,000 over five years.
- Nuclear waste dump: $4.4 million to continue with the previous government's plans to site a radioactive waste dump somewhere in remote Australia. This money should be used to fund an independent public inquiry to work out what is the best way to deal with Australia’s nuclear waste problem.
- Nuclear research: the Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organisation, operator of the under-performing Opal reactor in Sydney, will receive $68.4 million over four years for additional facilities and management of existing facilities.
- Rum Jungle: $8.3 million over four years to clean up the site of an old uranium mine in the Northern Territory, which operated from 1954 to 1971.