Address by Senator Robert Hill, Federal Minister for the Environment
May 6, 1999
Melbourne
At an early age we were taught the value of money. We were taught to conserve our financial capital, to invest wisely and spend only from the earnings. We were not similarly taught the value of our natural capital. We were told we were the lucky country - a land of great natural assets available to exploit.
So, we set about to improve the land. To improve the land meant stripping it of its unique natural vegetation cover. We paid men to ringbark the majestic red gums. Land grants were made contingent on land clearing. We dammed the streams and rivers so that water would no longer be wasted.
Wise use of water was to take it from the stream for agriculture, industry or domestic purposes.
We developed great cities and we were lucky because we could pump our waste out to sea where it could not be seen and would therefore do no damage.
We were lucky - we were blessed with so much coal that we need not conserve energy. We could afford to emit more carbon than other countries - and we did. We hadn't heard of global warming and in any event we were such a big country it did not matter.
Of course, now we know better as we have seen the consequences of our actions - dryland salinity, species extinctions, algal blooms, choked and degraded water ways, polluted beaches, destroyed marine eco-systems, increasing air pollution levels, to name but a few.
We have always recognised the unqiue beauty of the Australian landscape - we now understand just how fragile it is.
There is of course the other side of the ledger. We have from exploitation of our natural resource base built a strong economy and provided for the material well-being of generations of Australians. And we have also always had those who have cared for the natural assets whether in the country or the cities or the oceans and when in doubt have taken a cautious approach.
But the lesson is we cannot, to use an expression of Razali Ismail as Chair of the Second Earth Summit, continue to act "as though we are the last generation on earth". Now we know better, we must develop a new respect for our natural resources.
We must learn to live sustainably. We must learn to take the income from our natural assets - not continue to diminish the capital.
When it comes to the environment, thinking Australians have been preparing for the next millenium for some time now. Look at the amazing growth of the Landcare movement in Australia - now the nation's largest environment group, with tens of thousands of volunteers Australia-wide, working to repair the damage of 200 years of inappropriate land use and to prevent further damage.
Landcare is just one of the more obvious signs that the closing decade of the 20th Century has seen a remarkable seed change in the way Australians view the environment.
While the 1970s and 1980s can be portrayed as decades of environmental activism and awareness raising, the 1990s will be seen as the decade that Australians took environmental matters into their own hands - it will be seen as the decade of environmental action, most of it delivered at a community level.
It is interesting to note that since 1990, membership of environmental lobby groups such as the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Wilderness Society has fallen significantly. Some may incorrectly suggest that this reflects a declining interest in environment issues. But the true answer is that while membership of groups associated with environmental activism has declined, membership of hands-on environmental action groups such as Landcare, Coastcare, Waterwatch and the like has surged. It is a clear signal that Australians have moved beyond talking about the environment.
Perhaps one of the challenges facing the media as we enter the new millenium will be how to give these Australians as much prominence as that given to those groups solely interested in environmental activism.
While environmental lobby groups show little interest in acknowledging the good work being done on the ground in Australia, a brief stock-take of where we stand shows that Australia does have much to be proud of in its environmental performance.And it is the strong commit ment and enthusiasm of community members which gives us confidence that Australia will enter the new millenium determined to reverse the decline of our environment and preserve our natural heritage for future generations.
It is possible, of course, to dwell on the inadvertent consequences of past practices, but it is better to learn from the mistakes, make a commitment not to repeat them and get on with the job of repairing the damage done. In particular we need to encourage and support the tens of thousands of individuals who through their personal contributions are putting Australia on the path to sustainability.
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