Green Army funding may be cut, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce says job will go on

But Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said regardless of what happened to the Green Army, the “job will go on”.

The May federal budget included $360m in funding over four years, but Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg indicated the government was reviewing its support for the organisation, as it looked to make more savings.

Tamworth Green Army supervisor Belinda Milgate said people only had to look at banks of the Peel River near Scotts Rd, behind Hungry Jacks, to see the“amazing” efforts of her team.

“Quite often we have people pulling up while we are working down there saying ‘wow, what a difference’,” Ms Milgate told The Leader.

The Green Army’s activities include tree planting, weed control, rehabilitation, native tree propagation, rubbish collection and even cleaning up fallen trees after storms. 

Ms Milgate was concerned the thousands of manpower hours her team had spent on various projects across the region would be wasted if their funding was cut.

“Many of our programs need ongoing maintenance,” Ms Milgate said.

“I can’t see council keeping up, it’s already inundated with what’s going on.” 

Mr Joyce wouldn’t confirm if the Green Army’s funding would be cut, and said it was up to the Expenditure Review Committee and cabinet to make the decision.

However, Mr Joyce said “policy changes”.

“Even if the Green Army was involved, or there is a change in the process, the job will go on, it just goes on under a different name,” Mr Joyce said.

“If something’s not working out the way you wanted it to, what do you do? Continue on or try and fix it? You try and fix it.

“It’s not a case of the process stops, it just works in a more efficient and more dynamic way.”

Mr Joyce said Landcare was a “good program” and well supported, pointing to the $100m recently announced for it.

The funding was part of an agreement reached between the Coalition and the Greens, in exchange for the Greens' support in passing the 15 per cent backpacker tax.

The Greens support scrapping the Green Army, which party leader Richard Di Natalie called “an employment program, not an environmental program”.