Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) president Paul Bell will fly to Canberra today (March 18) to make urgent representations to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett, and the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Tony Burke, about the Federal Government’s decision to cut funding to the Local Government Natural Resource Management Facilitator Network.

Funding for the network has been discontinued as part of the Federal Government’s new arrangements for natural resource management,  the ‘Caring for our Country’ program.

Cr Bell said in a statement that the decision was shortsighted and made without adequate consultation with councils. The network had been operating effectively for almost five years and, through its strong leadership and focus on locally-based programs, played a major role in the remediation and stewardship of the environment.

"The message has always been to ‘think globally, act locally’ and I am concerned that in this case, we are overlooking the extraordinary achievements of Australian communities in conserving our environment, and the work that still needs to be done," Cr Bell said.