Canberra environmental volunteers are yet to find out whether they will receive government funding beyond the end of the current financial year.
ACT Environment Minister Rebecca Vassarotti told an estimates hearing on Tuesday that while $475,000 was allocated to environmental volunteers for 2020-21, a decision was yet to be made to extend the funding.
"There is a strong commitment to environmental volunteers and one of the key things that I'm focused on is how we actually develop a process where we do have stable funding sources for environmental volunteers, but we're not quite there yet," Ms Vassarotti said.
The $475,000 was shared between three environmental groups in the ACT, which included the Ginninderra Catchment Group, the Southern ACT Catchment Group and the Molonglo Catchment Group.
When asked as to whether that amount was a one-off funding commitment or whether a similar amount would be made available in successive years, Ms Vassarotti said "budget processes are budget processes".
However, the Environment Minister did say the government was looking to see how future funding could be a possibility in coming years.
"We certainly recognise the significant value from environmental volunteers. There are thousands of volunteers in our very precious natural environment and they deliver huge value to the community," she said.
Opposition environmental spokeswoman Leanne Castley said more certainty was needed.
"The government claims it encourages and supports environmental volunteers yet funding will run out next year," she said.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark canberratimes.com.au
- Download our app
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
