Tackling emerging and long-term national environmental priorities
The Australian Government is investing $100 million, over four years from 2019-20 to 2022-23, to help ensure our environment is protected for future generations through the Environment Restoration Fund.
As part of the 2022-23 Budget, the Fund has been extended with additional funding of $100 million over three years, commencing in 2022-23, as a continued commitment to supporting the protection and restoration of our environment.
This brings the total investment in the Environment Restoration program fund to $200 million.
The Environment Restoration Fund builds on the Government’s $1 billion investment, over six years from 2017-18 to 2022-23, in the National Landcare Program, to protect Australia’s water, soil, plants and animals and support their productive and sustainable use. The Fund complements the Government’s Communities Environment Program, which focuses on ‘small-scale grants’ for community projects.
Focusing on Australia’s environmental priorities
The aim of the Environment Restoration Fund is to support a range of activities that will improve environmental outcomes. Projects will focus on three priority areas:
- Protecting threatened and migratory species and their habitat
- Protecting Australia’s coasts, oceans and waterways by addressing erosion, improving water quality and protecting coastal threatened and migratory species, and
- The clean-up, recovery and recycling of waste.
As part of the extension from 2022-23 to 2024-25, the Fund will support a range of activities focused on these priority areas:
- Protecting threatened and migratory species and their habitat, including tackling pest animals and weeds,
- Protecting and restoring Australia’s coastal rivers and waterways,
- Improving urban tree canopy and providing green corridors in cities.
Initial priorities include environmental recovery in flood-affected rivers and waterways along the southern Queensland and New South Wales coast, and $5 million to rejuvenate the River Torrens from the Adelaide Hills to the sea.
Outcomes from projects supported under the Fund will provide benefits to communities, as well as regional and local economies.
This investment will help to ensure that Australia continues to meet its international obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity and other relevant environmental treaties.
Emergency support for flood-affected wildlife and habitat
In response to severe flooding events in NSW and Queensland, the Australian Government has approved up to $3.5 million from the Environment Restoration Fund for urgent interventions to protect impacted wildlife and their habitats.
The funding will go to targeted recovery projects delivered through natural resource management (NRM) groups in flood-affected regions. These organisations have the capacity and on-ground expertise to provide rapid environmental support where it is needed most.
Priority actions will be guided by data and analysis of flood impacts to threatened species and ecological communities. Threatened Species Commissioner Dr Fiona Fraser chaired a roundtable of experts and management agencies on 13 May 2022, to better understand flood impacts on native plants, animals and habitats. A summary of the discussions is available in the communique below.
Floods and Biodiversity Roundtable 13 May 2022 Communique (PDF 166 KB)
Floods and Biodiversity Roundtable 13 May 2022 Communique (DOCX 81 KB)
Data of flood impacts on wildlife and their habitats, along with further details on recovery investments, will be published as these become available.
Timing
The Environment Restoration Fund commenced as a four year initiative in the 2019-20 financial year. The extension will run for a further two years until 2025.
Program delivery
Projects are being delivered through a mixture of grants, procurements and specific purpose payments to the States.
Details of contracted projects
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Projects funded through grant arrangements
ERF Threatened Species Strategy Action Plan: Priority Species Grants (PDF - 178KB)
ERF Threatened Species Strategy Action Plan: Priority Species Grants (DOCX - 79KB)
| Proponent | Project Title | Amount ($) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ERF Safe Havens for Threatened Native Species - Open Grant Round | |||
| 1 | Australia's Wildlife Ark Inc | Upper Mongogarie Safe Haven | 1,500,000 |
| 2 | Australian Wildlife Conservancy | Safeguarding the future of the endangered Northern Bettong | 1,500,000 |
| 3 | Territory Natural Resource Management Incorporated | Creating mainland and island safe havens to secure Top End priority mammals | 1,477,148 |
| 4 | Parks Victoria | The Prom Sanctuary - building a safe haven at scale for southern wildlife | 1,012,939 |
| 5 | Arid Recovery Limited | Securing the kowari in the species’ first safe haven | 699,800 |
| 6 | Ecological Horizons Pty Ltd | Secret Rocks Safehaven | 598,113 |
| ERF Other Grants | |||
| 7 | Australia Zoo Wildlife Warriors Worldwide Inc | Protecting Koalas of south-east QLD and northern NSW | 1,000,000 |
| 8 | Australian Council of Recycling Inc | Recycle Mate: A National Roll-out | 2,000,000 |
| 9 | Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation Ltd | A National Approach to Consumer Education for Sustainable Packaging | 1,100,000 |
| 10 | Australian Trust For Conservation Volunteers | Clear Waters, Clean Future | 5,000,000 |
| 11 | Australian Trust For Conservation Volunteers | Understanding and Protecting Western Pygmy-possums on Fleurieu Peninsula | 20,000 |
| 12 | Bass Coast Shire Council | Bass Coast coastal erosion | 1,500,000 |
| 13 | Bayside City Council | Foreshore restoration at Black Rock and Sandringham | 100,000 |
| 14 | Central Coast Council | Avoca Lagoon Green and Golden Bell Frog Assessment and Habitat Improvement | 300,000 |
| 15 | Central Coast Council | Clean4Shore | 300,000 |
| 16 | Central Coast Council | Tuggerah Lakes estuary and catchment ecological health project | 4,700,000 |
| 17 | Clean Up Australia Ltd | Clean Up Australia Day | 300,000 |
| 18 | Cumberland Land Conservancy Inc | Cumberland Conservation Corridor - Habitat Restoration Works | 400,000 |
| 19 | Friends of Dudley Peninsula Parks and Wildlife | Kangaroo Island weed control, revegetation and heritage conservation | 20,000 |
| 20 | Georges River Combined Councils' Committee Incorporated | Improving the Health of the Georges River: Zero Litter in Georges River | 700,000 |
| 21 | Goolwa to Wellington Local Action Planning Association Inc | Conserving Biodiversity at Priority Sites on the Fleurieu Peninsula | 245,000 |
| 22 | Hawkesbury River County Council | Hawkesbury-Nepean River Aquatic Weed Management | 111,000 |
| 23 | Hindmarsh Island Landcare Group | Lawari Conservation Park revegetation and weed control | 160,000 |
| 24 | Indigenous Desert Alliance Limited | Right-Way Desert Fire Project | 3,000,000 |
| 25 | Keep Australia Beautiful National Association Ltd | Eco-Schools Australia - less litter, more recycling | 300,000 |
| 26 | Mornington Peninsula and Western Port Biosphere Reserve Foundation Ltd | Protecting the Western Port Biosphere | 300,000 |
| 27 | Muru Mittigar Limited | Keeping the Hawkesbury and Nepean Rivers healthy | 250,000 |
| 28 | OzHarvest Limited | OzHarvest’s Fight Food Waste Campaign | 500,000 |
| 29 | Penrith City Council | Keeping the Hawkesbury and Nepean Rivers healthy - River Road Reserve | 150,000 |
| 30 | Planet Ark Environment Foundation | Australian Circular Economy Hub | 1,600,000 |
| 31 | Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Queensland) Limited | Koala Rescue and Rehabilitation Program | 1,000,000 |
| 32 | Sturt Upper Reaches Landcare Group Inc | Bandicoot Super Highway Project | 250,000 |
| 33 | The Trustee for Currumbin Wildlife Hospital Foundation | Koala Treatment, Rehabilitation and Research | 1,000,000 |
| 34 | Thylation Limited | Felixer Grooming Trap Commercialisation | 1,200,000 |
| 35 | Trees for Life Inc | Creekline Restoration in the Adelaide Hills | 85,000 |
| 36 | Treidlia Biovet Pty Ltd | Curiosity Bait Commercialisation | 800,000 |
| 37 | Willunga Environment Centre Inc | Wakondilla/Wangkondilla -cultural connection to the Aldinga Washpool | 40,000 |
| 38 | Yarra Riverkeeper Association Inc | Yarra Riverbank Project - Improving the health of the Yarra River | 500,000 |
| Grants contracted sub-total | 35,719,000 | ||
Projects directly procured from Regional Land Partnership service providers
| Proponent | Project Title | Amount ($) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Corangamite Catchment Management Authority | Bellarine Dunecare - Protecting Sand Dunes on Victoria's Great Ocean Road and the Bellarine Peninsula | 1,500,000 |
| 2 | Corangamite Catchment Management Authority | Wild Otways Initiative - Feral pig and deer eradication to protect native species in the Otway Ranges, Bells Beach (Ironbark Basin) and Great Ocean Road Hinterland | 1,216,000 |
| 3 | Corangamite Catchment Management Authority | Wild Otways Initiative - Fox and feral cat control in planned-burn landscapes to protect threatened species in the Otway Ranges | 1,116,000 |
| 4 | Corangamite Catchment Management Authority | Wild Otways Initiative - Protecting plant and animal biodiversity in the Otway Ranges, Bells Beach (Ironbark Basin) and Great Ocean Road Hinterland from cinnamon fungus (Phytophthora cinnamomi) dieback | 616,000 |
| 5 | Corangamite Catchment Management Authority | Wild Otways Initiative - Conserving threatened small mammals in the Otway Ranges, Bells Beach (Ironbark Basin) and Great Ocean Road Hinterland | 516,000 |
| 6 | Corangamite Catchment Management Authority | Wild Otways Initiative - Rewilding threatened species in the Otway Ranges | 816,000 |
| 7 | Corangamite Catchment Management Authority | Wild Otways Initiative - Community grants program to protect and restore native plants, wildlife and coastal environments | 1,720,000 |
| 8 | Cradle Coast Authority | Removing Rice Grass from Rubicon Estuary | 260,000 |
| 9 | Fitzroy Basin Association Inc | Clarke-Connors Range Koala Climate Change Refugia Project | 1,000,000 |
| 10 | Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Management Authority | Protection for Hooded Plover Chicks | 100,000 |
| 11 | Healthy Land and Water Ltd | Implementing Priority Actions to Reduce Threats to Migratory Shorebirds in Moreton Bay Ramsar Site | 1,200,000 |
| 12 | Healthy Land and Water Ltd | Protecting Koalas of South East Queensland and Northern New South Wales | 1,000,000 |
| 13 | Healthy Land and Water Ltd | Living Waterways: Lower Brisbane River | 1,150,000 |
| 14 | Kangaroo Island Landscapes Board | Supporting the recovery of the Kangaroo Island dunnart through conservation and management actions | 1,500,000 |
| 15 | Mallee Catchment Management Authority | Identifying important populations and improving fire management for threatened Mallee birds | 500,000 |
| 16 | North Coast Local Land Services | Protecting Koalas of SEQ and Northern NSW - North Coast | 2,000,000 |
| 17 | North Coast Local Land Services | Protecting Koalas of Coffs Harbour-to-North Bellingen, Port Macquarie and North Macleay-to-Nambucca Areas of Regional Koala Significance (ARKS) | 2,000,000 |
| 18 | North West Local Land Services | Habitat Refugia for Kamilaroi Guda Koalas | 1,000,000 |
| 19 | Northern Agricultural Catchments Council | Protecting WA Black Cockatoos - Northern Agricultural Region | 647,000 |
| 20 | NQ Dry Tropics Ltd | Ramsar Wetlands of Bowling Green Bay Catchment | 2,000,000 |
| 21 | NRM South | Protecting Forty-spotted Pardalote | 235,000 |
| 22 | Peel-Harvey Catchment Council Inc | Protecting WA Black Cockatoos - Peel-Harvey | 389,500 |
| 23 | Perth NRM | Improving the health of the Swan and Canning Rivers | 2,000,000 |
| 24 | Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority | ERF French Island Feral Cat Eradication | 335,000 |
| 25 | Rangelands NRM Co-ordinating Group Inc | Stop the flow of cane toads in the Kimberley | 200,000 |
| 26 | South Coast Natural Resource Management Inc | Protecting WA Black Cockatoos - South Coast | 647,000 |
| 27 | South East Local Land Services | Safe haven for threatened species - Wandiyali-Environa Wildlife Sanctuary | 1,200,000 |
| 28 | South West Catchments Council | Protecting WA Black Cockatoos - South West | 409,500 |
| 29 | Southern Regional Natural Resource Management Association | Priority actions for eastern quolls on north Bruny Island | 1,500,000 |
| 30 | Territory Natural Resource Management Incorporated | Community cat management in remote Indigenous communities | 250,000 |
| 31 | Wheatbelt Natural Resource Management Incorporated | Protecting WA Black Cockatoos - Wheatbelt | 907,000 |
| Direct procurement contracted sub-total | 29,930,000 |
Projects funded through Commonwealth to States funding arrangements
| Proponent | Project Title | Amount ($) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NSW State Government | Improving the health of the Georges River (Yeramba Lagoon) | 300,000 |
| 2 | SA State Government | Flinders Island Safe Haven Project | 1,677,000 |
| 3 | SA State Government | Glenthorne National Park Initiative | 1,700,000 |
| 4 | SA State Government | Improving the health of the River Torrens | 2,000,000 |
| 5 | SA State Government | The Second Creek Outfall Project | 450,000 |
| 6 | VIC State Government | Improving the health of the Yarra River through litter reduction | 1,500,000 |
| 7 | VIC State Government | Restoring Mount Martha North Beach | 1,500,000 |
| Commonwealth to States agreements sub-total | 9,127,000 |