Environment and Conservation
Australia is a land of environmental contrasts and
contradictions. It is the driest inhabited continent on earth, where
drought is a recurring problem.
At the same time, northern Australia lies in the monsoon
belt and huge areas of the country are subject to regular flooding.
Australia has a varied climate suitable for a wide
range of crops and animals, but our soils are ancient and many are
shallow, unstable and of low fertility. These characteristics present
unique and complicated challenges to all Australians in achieving balanced
and sustainable management of our natural resources.
The Nationals are determined to protect the environment,
conserve the unique beauty of Australia's natural landscape and secure
the resource base of Australia's primary industries.
The Nationals have a deep commitment to the land. Our
policies reflect our understanding, care and concern for the protection
of the environment and our determination to preserve and enhance soil
and water resources which underpin the contribution to the nation's
economy made by industries who utilise those resources.
There is a strong requirement for Federal leadership
to ensure a nationally, coordinated and integrated approach is taken
to achieving sustainable natural resources management and redress resource
degradation that has occurred in the past.
The States have primary constitutional responsibility
for natural resource management and should manage our natural resources
and the needs of industries and communities who rely upon it in a sustainable
manner.
Australia's farmers and regional communities have always
recognised the need to be good stewards of our land and water resources. They
have come a long way towards achieving sustainable farming practices,
but we recognise there is still more to be done.
Arrangements for stable, well-defined water allocation
and access entitlement regimes with sufficiently long terms for access
entitlements and a general presumption that they will be renewed are
essential.
We believe that in managing the resource base sustainably,
recognition should be given to water and land entitlements as property
rights and the payment of compensation where these rights are reduced
or withdrawn.
Precisely because the preservation and enhancement
of the environment requires concerted community action, strategies
affecting local communities need to be developed in partnership and
not imposed on them.
The Nationals support efforts to reduce Australia's
greenhouse emissions but do not support international rules which
disadvantage Australian industry and interests.
