Media release
21 April 2010
Environment Protection Minister Peter Garrett
will plant Canberra's first centenary flower,
Correa 'Canberra Bells' at the Australian
National Botanic Gardens today.
Joined by ACT Senator
Kate Lundy and Centenary of Canberra Creative
Director Ms Robin Archer, Mr Garrett said
the planting was part of the build up to
Canberra's 100th anniversary celebrations
in 2013.
"The Correa 'Canberra
Bells' is the official native plant chosen
to commemorate this historic occasion,"
Mr Garrett said.
"The Gardens is
a great location for the first permanent
display of this beautiful flower. Each year
more than 400,000 people visit the Gardens
giving us the chance to showcase this new
correa."
Mr Garrett said today's
planting also celebrated the close relationship
between the ACT Government, the Australian
National Botanic Gardens, the ACT branch
of the Australian Native Plants Society
and the local nursery industry.
"Correa 'Canberra
Bells' is an attractive, hardy shrub, which
features two-tone, red and cream bell-like
flowers," Mr Garrett said.
"It flowers throughout
autumn, which means it will add a flourish
of colour to local gardens during the peak
of Canberra's birthday celebrations in March
2013.
"The correa's name
was chosen from over 250 suggestions by
a panel including ACT Government staff and
representatives from the Australian Native
Plants Society, Australian National Botanic
Gardens and Yarralumla Nursery.
"Local media personality
and native plant enthusiast Ian Warden also
helped us judge the entries."
Bywong Nursery, owned
and operated by Peter Ollerenshaw, has a
special breeding program for new plant varieties
and is propagating Correa 'Canberra Bells'.
Canberrans will be able
to buy their own correa in 2012.
+ More
New study answers the
critics of water purchase
Media release
26 April 2010
A new assessment of the impact of the Federal
Government’s water purchase program by the
Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource
Economics (ABARE) has answered critics of
the water buyback.
The Minister for Water,
Senator Penny Wong, today released the study
which models the impact of the first $1.5
billion of the Rudd Government’s $3.1 billion
Restoring the Balance in the Murray Darling
Basin water purchase program.
The study found that:
The water purchase program
is helping ease financial pressures on irrigators;
Lost production as a result of water purchase
is very small, especially when compared
with other factors, such as drought and
in any case may be offset by the Government’s
investment in infrastructure, and;
The water purchase program is helping irrigators
prepare for the new, lower limits on water
use that are expected under the Basin Plan.
Senator Wong said that critics of the water
buyback have repeatedly claimed that purchasing
water to restore river health has hurt agricultural
production and is bad for regional economies.
“Yet today’s report
shows that purchasing water is not only
helping the environment, by returning much
needed water to the Basin’s rivers and wetlands–
it also helps irrigators,” Senator Wong
said.
“Water purchase is providing
irrigators with an extra option for managing
their way through drought, retiring debt,
investing in farm upgrades, diversifying
their operations or exiting irrigation altogether.”
It is clear from this
study that the overwhelming source of lost
production in the Murray Darling Basin is
drought, which caused the gross value of
irrigated cotton production to fall by 47
per cent, compared with a projected reduction
of 1.9 per cent under the buyback.
The study also found
that:
The Rudd Government’s
$5.8 billion investment in improving rural
water use and efficiency is expected to
reduce the volume of water required by irrigators
to produce a given level of output;
Any decline in Gross Value of Irrigated
Agricultural Production across the Basin
is expected to be modest, and is predicted
to be fully offset by productivity growth,
and;
Gross Regional Product can be expected to
decline by less than 0.5 per cent in each
of the seven regions considered in the ABARE
study.
“Today’s study confirms that the Rudd Government’s
long-term Water for the Future plan is supporting
the future viability of our Basin communities
and returning the rivers to health,” Senator
Wong said.
+ More
New funding to protect
Australia's historic places
Media release
21 April 2010
A new Australian Government heritage funding
program opens today designed to protect,
conserve and maintain places important to
our history and heritage.
Minister for Environment
Protection, Heritage and the Arts, Peter
Garrett, said the National Historic Sites
program is a competitive grants program
providing a totalling $14.9 million over
the next three years for owners and managers
of nationally significant historic sites
so they can undertake vital work to preserve
their properties for future generations.
"Australia’s National
Heritage listed sites are the exceptional
places that have played a lead role in the
development of our nation’s history. They
are places that help tell the story of our
unique and diverse heritage," Mr Garrett
said.
"Places eligible
for funding must be listed, or being considered
for listing, on Australia’s National Heritage
List – the premier heritage list for Australia.
"Other historic
sites that may be eligible include significant
places on the Commonwealth Heritage List
or a state or territory heritage register.
"The types of projects
likely to receive funding include building
restoration, management planning, landscaping
and signage to enhance public understanding
and access.
"The Government
is committed to protecting our community’s
important heritage places as they help us
understand and appreciate our past and this
new National Historic Sites program is an
important mechanism to help us do that.
"As the recent
$60 million investment in heritage places
through the National Building – Economic
Stimulus plan showed, the preservation and
protection of our heritage places can also
make a significant contribution to local
economies providing work opportunities for
local tradespeople, artisans and craftspeople
who, in turn, pass on their knowledge and
expertise to others.
"This is a really
exciting opportunity for local groups involved
with conserving places eligible for the
National Historic Sites program to apply
for funds through this terrific new program."
The National Historic
Sites program is a competitive program and
applications will be assessed by heritage
experts. The program was first announced
in the 2009-10 Budget.
Applications close 31
May 2010. Program guidelines and the application
form are at www.heritage.gov.au
