National Forum

Opening address by Max Kitchell to the National Forum - Taking Care of the Bush, in Perth on 21 March 2001.

When I arrived this morning one of my dear and abiding WA friends greeted me with the question, "What's a clapped out, old Canberra bureaucrat doing over here at an otherwise very respectable gathering?"

Well, a full and frank interchange ensured. But I did then think, why am I here.

At a crass level I suppose I am here because Environment Australia is a co-sponsor of the forum.

But more to the point the Commonwealth, over the last three to four years, has played a very active role in the area of nature conservation on private land. This role has been multi-faceted, for instance, the Commonwealth has,

• funded very significant programs directly designed to enhance private land nature conservation
• encouraged and facilitated development of new and innovative public policy
• assisted in the dissemination of best practice examples and initiatives from across the continent.

For example,

• the Bushcare program is the nation's largest ever initiative focussed on reversing the decline in native vegetation across Australia's farmlands. By next year the Commonwealth will have invested $350million in this program over the course of the NHT. Yes, it has had it critics - most big, bold new programs do. But it has done an enormous amount of good. Some great partnerships here have been formed between government, industry, landholders and the broad community. This has led to unprecedented levels of on-ground activity in conserving and restoring native biodiversity in rural Australia
• our Bush for Wildlife program helps coordinate and support the State-based Land for Wildlife programs across the country
• we have actively encouraged and offered to part fund the adoption of the best practice revolving fund concept in each State and Territory. This concept involves buying of high conservation value private land, placing conservation convents on the land and then reselling to owners interested in retaining the conservation values. So additional revenue is generated, more land is purchased and the cycle is repeated. You will hear more of this from Michael Looker from Victoria's Trust for Nature where the concept had its origins.
• the Commonwealth has supported the development of strategies to engage local government in biodiversity conservation Mike Berwick from Douglas Shire Council will tell you about this project
• and we have facilitated the development of new policy approaches to philanthropy which Carl Binning will expand on later this morning.

So the Commonwealth has a reasonable pedigree in private land nature conservation.

But the major reason this clapped-out public servant is here is because this forum is addressing what is arguably the biggest and most important issue around today in rural and regional Australia.

And I don't mean just a conservation issue, although it is certainly that. It is now conventional wisdom in the conservation business that the major challenges and the most pressing need for action is in conservation on private land.

But as the impacts of 200 years of European agriculture systems on this continent become depressingly more apparent - systems that treated nature as an enemy to be tamed and eliminated - a number of us see this issue as going way beyond conservation.

I don't think it is being too alarmist to say that unless we redress the problems of the past, what we confronting is

• the survival of the Australian landscape
• the survival of the rural communities that populate that landscape
• and the survival of the competitive economic advantage that this nation has for so long traded in with its primary products.

Put simply, unless we reinject nature into the bush, the bush doesn't have a future. And I think there is every reason to be confident about the future because I think we are at the beginning of a fundamental change in the way we view this Australia landscape. We are seeing the emergence of a whole new land management paradigm. One that will draw on our native ecosystems that has evolved here over millennia rather than be held hostage to imported forming systems.

Let me sketch out very briefly just some of the trends that will emerge over the next 20 years or 30 years that will favour conservation on private land.

1. Within that period many of our farmers will turn from commodity producers to ecosystems managers. They will not only be turning off agricultural products (many from native species) but they will also be producing and selling ecosystems services.

• Carbon sequestration
• Salinity credits
• Biodiversity services
• Tradeable clean water
• Conservation management services All of which will have a dollar value and all of which will depend on healthy ecosystems.

2. Elements of the trade and consumer agenda will also act in our favour. Increasingly, people will not buy products the production of which ravages the landscape.

In a very short period of time we will lose access to our major export markets in the European Union, North America and North Asia unless industries have Environmental Management Systems that are independently accredited and audited, and that guarantee environmentally benign production systems. This, in turn, will require enhanced nature conservation on farms.

3. Our national accounts, which currently recognise just income flows and built capital, will also measure our natural capital and how we are degrading or enhancing it. This will give a truer picture of our national wealth.

As a result our taxation polices and the approaches of our financial institutions will change to reflect the national imperative of maintaining a healthy natural capital base if we are to retain a healthy economic base.

4. The concept of duty of care (known for generations by farmers as "passing on property in better condition than they received it") will very soon become entrenched in our institutions and our legal and planning frameworks.

All of these trends will inevitably work in favour of retention and enhancement of native ecosystems.

So, in a couple of decades, conservation of nature will no longer be seen as contrary to our best economic interests, it will be seen as being economically rational.

We won't be trying to achieve a balance between nature conservation and sustainable production, they will be one in the same thing.

Now this is not a pipe dream, it is a realistic extrapolation of the directions we are currently embracing.

It is not an optional solution it (or something very like it) is the only solution if we are to have a healthy and vibrant Australian bush.

And this solution will be achieved only through people like you working through the issues at for a like this one.

So congratulations and thanks to the National Trust and all those involved in putting this national forum together. The list of speakers and participants is very impressive and broad ranging - people from every corner of Australia from Government agencies, NGOs, indigenous communities, academia, industry and commerce, and landowners and farmers.
So join in
Don't hold back
Say what you think
Don't be afraid to be provocative
And, above all, learn something from the experience. Given, the quality of speakers I would be amazed if each of you didn't go away with at least one good new idea or approach that you can apply in your own circumstances. And when we do that we make progress.

So good luck to you all over the next two days. I look forward to participating and learning from you.