Today’s budget includes an increase in funding for waterways across the state as the government looks to improve future water security and prevent environmental decline.
Key environment spending:
Environment Victoria said the $270 million for waterways was a positive sign,however,the budget would not address several of its key concerns.
Worrying gaps remained regarding the prevention of species extinction,it said in a statement.
Environment Victoria chief executive Jono La Nauze said up to one-third of Victorian plants,birds,reptiles,amphibians and mammals were at risk of extinction. He said the government had repeatedly failed to fund their protection.
“This budget repeats the pattern,and while there’s funding for forests now that state logging has ended,the lack of resources for biodiversity protection still leaves thousands of animals and plants headed for extinction,” La Nauze said.
He said the budget failed to ensure no one would be left behind as the state transitioned from fossil fuels.
La Nauze said government-owned renewables company,the SEC,and the Latrobe Valley Authority were supposed to help communities adjust to the challenges of the energy transition. He said both organisations had been neglected in the budget.
“We’re still waiting for the SEC to do what the government said it would – to start reinvesting in people and support households to electrify through new pilot programs,” he said.