A plan by Australia’s conservative Liberal-National government to establish a Green Army to undertake environment related projects is set to become a reality after legislation passed both houses of parliament.
The coalition’s Green Army bill has passed the Senate with support from the opposition Labor Party and the government has said the first round of projects will roll out “soon”.
The Green Army will grow to be 15,000 strong over the next four years but will start off with 2500 participants.
Green Army applicants must be aged between 17 and 24, and the Environment Minister Greg Hunt has said the intake will represent a diverse range of people, including school leavers, gap year students, graduates and job seekers.
“This is about taking teams of 10, a coordinator plus nine, they might do a boardwalk, they might do a large mangrove rehabilitation program, to assist with Landcare groups and friends groups, in sorts of work that they otherwise might not be able to do,” Mr Hunt said.
Mr Hunt insisted that the Green Army would not replace existing conservation workers.
“What we are doing in terms of the project specifications is ensuring that these are additional works over and above what’s already occurring,” he said.
The government has defined the scheme as a ‘training’ program, rather than an ’employment’ scheme, which means it is exempt from a number of work related provisions.
Australian Greens Party Senator Rachel Siewert spoken out strongly against the Green Army bill in the upper house Senate and expressed concerns that participants would not receive adequate, ongoing training or ‘workers’ rights.
“The Green Army bill appears to be little more than a clean-up program devised to keep youth off unemployment benefits for a brief period of time, with no thought to what happens to them afterwards,” Senator Siewert said.
“It is very likely to entrench young people in unemployment and poverty while diverting energy and resources away from more effective environmental programs,” she added.
Mr Hunt disagreed saying; “It’s an average wage of between $600 and almost $1000 over the course of a fortnight, depending on your age and your educational attainments.”
The Environment Department has already received about 400 project proposals and is currently considering them.
Local councils, community groups and natural resource management organisations will work with service providers to implement projects.
The government has committed $525 million over four years to the scheme, after cutting almost $500 million from Landcare.
