<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/nt-strips-funding-from-green-groups-boosts-fossil-fuels-in-foretaste-of-dutton-administration/>
"A move by the Northern Territory government to strip two environmental groups
of funding and push through sweeping reforms to expand fossil fuel extraction
is a sign of what’s to come under any future Dutton government, those groups
say.
The NT Environment Centre (ECNT) and the Arid Lands Environment Centre (ALEC)
were stripped of $100,000 each by the newly elected Country Liberal Party (CLP)
after it sought to end the grant program that had distributed the money.
A letter sent on Monday on behalf of Minister for Lands, Planning and
Environment, Joshua Burgoyne described the grant as providing a “policy
capability to engage and contribute to the former government’s environmental
reform program”.
It added: “There is a need to reprioritise the Department’s resources to
ensuring timeliness of assessments and approvals under the relevant statutory
authorities and to support key environmental projects.”
A follow-up termination notice sent on Wednesday said the decision was
“effective immediately”. The letter sent to ECNT demanded the organisation
repay any unspent funds, but the letter said to ALEC did not contain any such
demand as it had already acquitted the grant.
The decision will mean both organisations will be forced to cut a staff
position each, but would continue to exist.
Hannah Ekin, the head of the Arid Lands Environmental Council (ALEC), said the
decision by the new CLP government was self-defeating as the previous Labor
government was brought down, in part, by environmental concerns and frustration
at its commitment to new gas developments.
“People in the community here are really pissed off by this decision to pull
our funding,” Ekin said. “The new government have an environmentally ruinous
agenda and defunding us is one part of that.”
“Our role has been to hold government to account around environmental policy
and to support the community to have an active say around our environment and
water. Those are not things the CLP wants.”
ECNT’s director Kirsty Howey described the decision as “tragically predictable”
and said it comes as part of a wider push by the CLP to fast-track a massive
expansion of fossil fuel extraction infrastructure in the Territory.
“It’s no wonder they want to kneecap us, but of course we’re not going
anywhere,” Howey said. “You could say the gloves are off.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
