Coalition’s Green Army to improve environment
15th January, 2010
Federal Member for Wide Bay, Warren Truss today said a Coalition commitment to create a Green Army, would employ 15,000 people to work on local environment projects across the nation.Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, in a significant environmental speech last night, said a Coalition Government will create a Green Army, to help local councils and landcare agencies address areas of environmental degradation.
“Green Army workers would be paid a wage, which would encourage more people to pursue a career working to improve the environment,” Mr Truss said.
“The environment has suffered from the same lack of substance from Kevin Rudd, as his broken promises to fix the health system, eliminate homelessness, and create an education revolution. His broken promise to take action on whaling is another classic example.
“While Kevin Rudd has been spinning his environmental credentials, the reality is that Labor has cut $1 billion in funding for landcare and catchment management activities, slashed rebates for solar panels and overseen a wasteful home insulation program,” Mr Truss said.
Under the Coalition’s policy, an average of $50,000 would be available to fund each of the 15,000 places in the program.
“The Green Army would include trainees, regular workers and supervisors, who are capable of addressing large-scale environmental needs,” Mr Truss said.
“This announcement demonstrates the Coalition’s commitment to improving the environment in real and practical ways. Creating an environmental workforce that can target our most degraded areas would also assist the existing work currently being carried out by local Landcare and Coastcare volunteers.
“This is a practical policy that will deliver real outcomes. It will build on the success of the former Coalition Government’s popular Green Corps program by providing more Australians with the opportunity to pursue environmental regeneration as a vocation,” Mr Truss said.
