Greens spin DOC funding as significant

Eugenie Sage released:

Possums, rats and stoats are the big losers in Budget 2018 and our forests, birds and other wildlife the winners, Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage announced today.

 “We need to invest in comprehensive predator control in order to save special wildlife like kiwi. We have a biodiversity crisis, where 82 per cent of native birds are threatened with or at risk of extinction,” says Eugenie Sage.

 An extra $81.3 million in operating funds for predator control over four years is part of a major boost in conservation funding in Budget 2018.

Maybe there is more to come but this is pretty small stuff for a party that said it would double DOC funding.

$80 million over four years is basically $8 million more per year cumulative. The cumulative impact is:

• Year 1: $8 million
• Year 2: $16 million
• Year 3: $24 million
• Year 4: $32 million

Now how much did Vote Conservation increase last year? It increased $36 million. So the Greens big triumph is a funding boost that is less than one quarter of what National did last Budget.

Vote Conservation is $467 million so this funding increase is a 1.7% annual increase. Wow go Greens. That’s like really close to double eh.

Now maybe there are more funding increases to be announced. But if this is it, the Greens have shown us how powerless they are compared to Winston. He gets a 30% increase for diplomacy and they get 1.7% for conservation!