Where Peter Stands - Environment

North Queensland is home to two wonderful World Heritage Areas and some of Australia's most precious wilderness country. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and the Wet Tropics Rainforest are iconic local assets that must be properly managed and protected for future generations.

In Herbert, I have fought hard to protect and secure the environment for the future. Over the years, I have fought to have 90 per cent Magnetic Island protected as a national park. I have secured funding under the Green Corps programme to improve our local environment by repairing riverbanks and encouraging people to be more careful in their environment.

Against a very public campaign, I took a leadership role in preserving more than a third of the Great Barrier Reef as green zones. Time has now shown that this was the right course of action and the RAP received world recognition for its achievements in protection of the reef.

Townsville Solar City

Townsville made history at the end of last year by being named Queensland’s first Solar City. By using the latest technology to build solar energy capacity and improve energy efficiency, Townsville will cut its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50,000 tonnes.

This project will not only put Townsville at the forefront of new energy future for Australia, but will also have the potential to set new international benchmarks in energy savings.

The Townsville Solar City project will include:

• The installation of solar panels in 500 homes and businesses.
• The rollout of 2500 smart meters and 1700 in-house energy display meters.
• The provision of energy efficiency advice to help thousands of households and businesses save on their electricity bills.

The Townsville: Queensland Solar City consortium will receive up to $15 million from the Federal Government, with the consortium contributing an additional $15 million to the project.

The $75 million Solar Cities initiative is part of the Australian Government’s $2 billion climate change strategy which aims to develop clean, low emission technologies and build an international response to the challenge.

More information is available at: www.greenhouse.gov.au/solarcities or www.ergon.com.au/environment

Solar Panels

More Townsville households, schools and community groups will now be able to install solar panels, to bring their electricity costs down, as well as doing their part to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Federal Government has provided additional funding of $150 million for the transformation of its popular Photovoltaic Rebate Programme (PVRP).

The additional funding will support:

• Doubling of rebate for solar panels on homes. The rebate will increase from the current $4 per Watt up to a maximum of $4,000 to $8 per Watt up to a maximum of $8,000.
  
  
• New competitive grants scheme for schools and communities to install solar panels
  
  
• Scheme to support design and installation of solar systems - on commercial, industrial and iconic buildings.
  
  
• Training and accreditation of solar panel installers which is vital to meet the skills needs of the expanded programme.
  These initiatives build on what the Howard Government has already done through the investment of around $400 million to support solar technology, including the $52 million that has already been invested in the PVRP.

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park

Protection for our Great Barrier Reef Marine Park will be strengthened with $15.6 million in new funding in the 2007-08 Federal Budget. One of the greatest threats to the marine park, second only to climate change, is poor water quality. This Budget commits a further $14.2 million over four years from the National Heritage Trust to comprehensive monitoring and reporting of water quality and ecosystem health of the Great Barrier Reef lagoon.

Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS)
AIMS will receive an additional $5 million to support research into marine ecosystems in northwest Australia, which will underpin the environmental protection and sustainable use of marine resources. The 2007-08 Budget will mean an increase of 9% in the AIMS budget and a total commitment of $110.6 million over the next four years, which is the largest budget in AIMS history.

The Federal Government also recently provided funding of $310,000 to AIMS for a new oceanographic satellite receiving station at AIMS and a state of the art fibre optic winch for the Institute’s new vessel, the RV Solander.

$4.3 Billion to protect Australia’s environment

Over the past 11 years, the Federal Government has provided almost $20 billion in funding to restore and protect our natural environment.

The Federal Government has continued record levels of environment spending in the 2007-08 Budget, with $4.3 billion in funding to tackle the pressing issues of climate change, water security and natural resource management.

This years Budget has also included a ranged of measures taking Australia’s response to climate change to new levels, at a cost of $741 million over five years in funding to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, and help Australia prepare for unavoidable impacts of climate change.

Other environment projects include;

1. $197.2 million commitment to reducing global deforestation.
2. $10 billion over 10 years for the National Pan and Water Security.
3. $2 billion over 5 years from 2008-09 to build on the achievements of the $3.1 billion National Heritage Trust  (NHT) and $1.4 billion National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality (NAP), introduced in 1997.
4. $43.6 million over four years for the CSIRO to establish a new Climate Adaptation Flagship.
5. $59.6 million over four years to accelerate the production of greenhouse friendly transport fuels.

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