Millions of hectares of Australian bushland the size of New Zealand will soon be protected under a $250 million dollar federal budget commitment. Labor says the funding will ensure Australia reaches a key international climate goal of protecting 30% of Australian land by 2030.
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00:00You're a natural.
00:03Politics can be fraught with snakes in the grass.
00:06I really like snakes.
00:08Dangers the Environment Minister knows well.
00:11A Labor veteran in the government about to hand down its fourth budget with a pledge
00:16of her own.
00:17Australians love their natural environment.
00:19That's why we want to protect 30% of Australia's land by 2030.
00:25We will set aside $250 million to achieve that protection.
00:31That money spent over five years to include another 30 million hectares of bushland as
00:36protected area.
00:38Part of a global goal known as 30 by 30, which Australia signed up to three years ago.
00:44This extra funding in the budget will get us to 30 by 30.
00:49Not welcomed by conservationists, but just a fraction of the $5 billion green fund the
00:54sector proposed.
00:55It's going to take a lot more than a $250 million fund to meet the 30% protection target,
01:03but it's a start.
01:04But the Commonwealth aims to add to that through the states and territories and leveraging
01:09private investment.
01:10This is a critical start to safeguard the nature for future generations.
01:16We have to protect what's left.
01:18It's a biodiversity and an economic imperative.
01:21Australia will not meet our obligations of 30 by 30 if they don't stop the logging, the
01:28bulldozing and the polluting of our environment.
01:32This budget promise in Tanya Plibersek's portfolio comes just days after the minister was effectively
01:38sidelined by her boss on a decision around the environmental impacts of salmon farming
01:44in Tasmania.
01:46It's not the first intervention of this kind either.
01:49Last year, Anthony Albanese shelved the minister's signature nature positive laws.
01:54Has Anthony Albanese put politics above the environment?
01:58We are all absolutely committed as a government to better looking after our natural environment.
02:03I'm very aware that we've still got more to do.
02:06For now, the bigger challenge is in an election environment.