[Greens-Media] Uncertain future for regional staff under NHT

[Twomey, Chris (Sen R. Siewert)]

Uncertain future for regional staff under NHT

"The future of staff employed by Catchment Councils and regional natural
resource management groups remains uncertain," said Senator Rachel
Siewert today.

"Senate Estimates today learnt that the new government has yet to decide
on the changing direction of the third round of funding for the National
Heritage Trust." 

"There is no date set for a decision and there are no transitional
arrangements in place to help organisations to keep on staff and survive
a break in funding," she said.

"This is simply appalling. I cannot believe that we are making the same
mistakes that were made with the first round of NHT and with the
National Landcare Program - when so much of the money and effort spent
on building capacity was wasted as, without the promise on ongoing
employment, staff were forced to move on," said Senator Siewert.

"If the government wants to re-think the direction of NHT3 it should at
least put into place transitional arrangements to guarantee that
organisations like these organisations are not forced to close their
doors on June 30th," she said.

"For many of us it feels like were back to groundhog day," she
concluded.

For more information or comment call:

Chris Twomey 0407 725 025 or (02) 6277 3587