Environment reporter Michael Slezak says there’s enough in this budget to keep up a facade of action against Australia's extinction crisis, but no attempt to address it.
There's funding:
- To set up Environment Protection Australia.
- For Environmental data agency
- The Australian Antarctic science program
- For cracking down on illegal land clearing
Of nearly $100 million for speeding up environmental approvals, $65 million will be spent on researching threatened species, but little is being spent on on protecting them.
Environment groups are left bitterly disappointed.
It's "one of the worst in recent years for nature", says the Biodiversity Council, a "bad budget for nature", according to the Australian Land Conservation Alliance and "left nature shortchanged" according to WWF-Australia.
The Australian Conservation Foundation, however, was more measured in its critique of the budget.
"There is a long way to go before funding for the environment is at a scale needed to protect and restore nature and secure the services nature provides and on which we all depend," it said.