Ferrovial Construction (Australia) fund for Work Health and Safety training means landcare community groups in Queensland are better equipped for the future

Ferrovial Construction (Australia) (FCAU) recently rolled out a bespoke program to allocate specific funding to community groups in Queensland, in order to facilitate the provision of Work Health and Safety (WHS) training activities for staff and volunteers. These activities were targeted to address specific identified needs in the landcare community. Landcare Australia supports efforts to improve biodiversity, build resilient food and farming systems and create stronger communities. This initiative was a great opportunity to bring together FCAU and local community groups for a common purpose.

Following FCAU’s grant and assessment process, Landcare Australia provided 22 Queensland based community groups with the funding to conduct WHS training activities.

The aim of the training was to improve WHS skills and awareness within the participating community group’s staff and volunteers, and to make sure safety equipment is more readily available. Activities included:

providing first aid and remote first aid training;
upskilling critical driving skills for rural and remote areas;
provision of Agricultural Chemical User Certificates; and
purchasing of equipment, including defibrillators.

As a result, volunteers in these community groups are better prepared to address common WHS risks. The volunteers are now accredited in first aid and can safely complete high-risk activities such as handling and storing chemicals, and they can safely access remote areas using off road vehicles. This will have an immeasurable and on-going benefit to landcare community groups in Queensland.

This funding was a result of an Enforceable Undertaking, issued to FCAU, by the Queensland Government.

Landcare Australia Survey Now Open

In 2024, Landcare Australia and landcare as a national movement celebrates a 35-year anniversary. We have achieved so much over the decades, yet there is still more we need to do together. To strengthen our vision of ‘All Australians actively caring for the land and water that sustains us’, we are creating a strategy to further support the individuals, groups and organsiations involved in landcare.

At Landcare Australia, we are committed to effectively demonstrating our purpose, values, impact, and achievements among our stakeholders. This allows us to foster advocacy, encourage collaboration and cultivate partnerships with individuals and organisations with shared values and vision. Landcare Australia has engaged Canberra based agency CRE8IVE to manage a confidential online survey to gain valuable insights and opinions about Landcare Australia.

We invite you to participate in this survey to provide insights on the awareness and perception of Landcare Australia. These insights will help us understand how Landcare Australia is perceived within the community, guiding our future community engagement.

We greatly appreciate your time and contribution to this important project for our organisation so that we can continue to support the efforts of the landcare movement.

By completing the survey, you’ll also get a chance to enter into the draw for a $1000 environmental grant.

The survey should take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete.

Please click here to start the survey: Start Survey Here.

The survey will remain open until Wednesday 10 April 2024.

Your privacy is our priority. All information is treated strictly confidential. Please find our detailed Privacy Statement here.

Apply for Climate-Smart Agriculture grants to support Aussie farmers

The Australian Government is helping the agriculture sector respond to climate challenges through the $302.1 million Climate-Smart Agriculture Program, funded through the Natural Heritage Trust.

The Climate-Smart Agriculture Program will support Australia’s agriculture sector to drive climate-smart, sustainable growth and protect Australia’s natural capital by funding best practice sustainable agriculture and natural resource management activities that support farmers to respond to the impacts of climate change.

The Program will help drive agricultural productivity, competitiveness, and sustainability by supporting farmers and the agricultural sector to:

adopt climate-smart practices that reduce emissions and build resilience to climate change
harness carbon and biodiversity incentives and implement industry sustainability frameworks
adopt sustainable natural resource management practices that protect natural capital and biodiversity.

The program has multiple investment streams, including $45 million Partnerships & Innovation grants and $9 million Capacity Building grants that are now open.

Partnerships and Innovation grants of between $250,000 and $5 million can be used for a range of activities, from development of climate-smart technologies to improve farm efficiencies, decision support tools and smartphone applications, to new practices for sustainable grazing, cropping systems and pasture management.

Capacity Building grants of between $10,000 and $1 million are available for activities that enable farmers to access the latest climate-smart and sustainable agriculture approaches and inform decisions about their farming operations.

Is your big idea ready to make a big impact on Australian agriculture? Do you want to build up your community’s capacity to support Aussie farmers to adopt climate-smart and sustainable agriculture practices? Apply today to help secure the future of Australia’s agriculture sector.

Applications for Partnership and Innovation grants close 8 April 2024.

Applications for Capacity Building grants close 28 March 2024.

For more information and to apply, visit agriculture.gov.au/climate-smart

Landcare Australia Response to the AAP Article September 2023

Landcare Australia is referenced in a recent media article and is disappointed in its content. We wish to restate what we do to support landcare.

The unjustified negative comments about Landcare Australia and the work we do to support landcare at all levels not only impacts the good work of our organisation, but potentially reflects poorly on landcare and the on-going great work of the broader landcare volunteer community.

It’s clear that funding arrangements have changed over the last few decades and all involved in landcare, including Landcare Australia, are operating in a more competitive and accountable funding environment. It is of significant concern to see excellent groups such as Hindmarsh Island Landcare group, a previous winner of a National Coastcare award, struggle to secure funding.

Rather than ‘the corporate arm of landcare’, Landcare Australia is an independent not-for-profit organisation with a volunteer skills-based Board, which was created almost 35 years ago to support the landcare movement. Through our long history of developing partnerships and funding arrangements, Landcare Australia has been able to provide a small but important portion of the total funding and services available nationally for landcare groups. Landcare Australia, just like all supporters of landcare, would like to see more funding available and hitting the ground.

We will continue to work hard with our partners and stakeholders to deliver services, funding and projects for landcare just as we have done for decades.

Anyone interested in knowing more about the role of Landcare Australia and how we support landcare is encouraged to review our website and Annual Reports.

Details of Landcare Australia’s responsible financial position, funding and expenditure, including salaries, are available in our Annual Reports and on the ACNC website: Landcare Australia Limited | ACNC.

Landcare Australia secures funding through our partnerships with multiple corporate organisations and other stakeholders that support the services we provide to landcare and on-ground projects.

Over the last four years Landcare Australia has:

delivered more than $26M in funding to landcare
supported 877 landcare projects
supported 4,650 Junior Landcare projects involving more than 300,000 school children.

In the last two years alone, our partner funded landcare projects have involved more than 19,000 volunteers.

That’s a great result for the recipient groups, schools and their local communities.

Landcare Australia works with volunteer groups and organisations on an almost daily basis and we have long been recognised as a trusted delivery partner for supporting landcare. Our efforts to successfully promote landcare achievements and grow support for grassroots groups have been appreciated by most landcare stakeholders since 1989. Groups typically welcome the support, funding and services Landcare Australia provides. Our regular interactions ensure we are well connected to people on the ground.

Landcare Australia acknowledges that we can always do better, but we are unaware of widespread ‘volunteers’ gripes’ nor ‘tensions simmering for years between Landcare Australia and grassroots volunteers’.

However, we do recognise some challenges trying to create a single national organisation with the National Landcare Network (NLN) in recent years. The NLN is a small advocacy organisation responsible for representing the interests of its eight state and territory members. Landcare Australia previously invested significant time and organisational funds over more than three and a half years trying to create a single national organisation with the NLN.

In 2020, after some fundamental issues remained unresolved, we recognised that the time was not right. This was affirmed in June 2023, when representatives of the NLN and Landcare Australia Boards agreed that we would not be attempting to create a single national landcare entity now or in the near future. The unresolved issues related to membership, governance, decision-making processes, cost-effective delivery of funding, and the ability for the new organisation to grow support for landcare. Unfortunately, it seems that some people remain disappointed with this outcome.

The eight members of the NLN are an important part of landcare, and Landcare Australia tries to work with them as much as practicable. As an example, in the successful delivery of the Landcare-led Bushfire Recovery Program Landcare Australia:

provided almost $1M to the NLN and five of its members to assist with delivering the program
boosted the NLN’s capacity by seconding a key experienced member of Landcare Australia’s management team to the NLN to oversee the program.

We want to make it clear that Landcare Australia does not compete for Australian Government funding with volunteer groups. Instead, we are contracted to deliver specific services on behalf of the Australian Government to support volunteer groups and others involved in landcare. We are appreciative of the government’s commitment and support for landcare. Landcare Australia has a long track record of successfully delivering services including conferences, awards, publications, restoration projects and large programs. We particularly welcome the upcoming opportunity to submit grant proposals for consideration in a competitive Australian Government process to enable continued support of landcare.

Our approach to supporting landcare includes many organisations and individuals around Australia. In addition to landcare networks and groups, our support extends to farming groups, First Nations organisations, individual landholders, youth groups, other environmental community groups, and of course, schools.

Landcare Australia is committed more than ever to continue supporting grassroots landcare volunteers, sustainable management of biodiverse natural areas, restoration of environmental assets, productive agricultural landscapes and community well-being in Australia.

$1 million in grants available for Australian schools with Woolworths Junior Landcare Grants program

February 8, 2023:

The latest round of the Woolworths Junior Landcare Grants program has officially opened, offering primary schools and early learning centres across Australia the chance to share in $1 million to help grow the next generation of environmental champions.

Woolworths and Landcare Australia are calling on all Aussie primary schools and early learning centres to apply for a grant of up to $1,000 to help them develop projects focused on sustainability and inspiring students to play an active role in the future of their natural environment. This could include growing veggie or bush tucker gardens, creating compost for school gardening beds, setting up nest boxes or creating habitats to protect native wildlife.

Since launching the program in 2018, the Woolworths Junior Landcare Grants program, in partnership with Landcare Australia, has supported over 3,814 school groups with more than $4 million in funding to help kids all across the country get hands-on with nature.

Through its Junior Landcare program, Landcare Australia has also worked closely with First Nations educator and Wiradjuri man Adam Shipp to develop environmental learning activities for educators and children to learn more about how they can have a connection to Country.

New activities are available online at Junior Landcare’s Learning Centre, ranging from exploring First Nations weather knowledge to creating an Indigenous plant use garden and exploring a First Nations peoples’ languages map.

Woolworths Group Chief Marketing Officer, Andrew Hicks, said: “The Woolworths Junior Landcare Grants program is all about supporting fun and engaging learning experiences that can help younger generations connect with natural environments.

“Over the years, we’ve seen lots of creativity from schools and early learning centres looking to explore sustainability in action, and we can’t wait to see more of these ideas brought to life through this year’s program.

“We’re also excited about the new learning activities designed to help bring First Nations perspectives into the home and classroom. These activities are a great resource that highlight the invaluable perspectives and experiences of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community on the journey to creating more sustainable experiences for a better tomorrow.”

Adam Shipp, First Nations educator with Landcare Australia, said: “As a proud Wiradjuri man, I believe it is extremely important that environmental based organisations recognise and work with First Nations groups.

“By teaching younger generations about traditional ways of caring for Country, we can deepen knowledge of and respect for First Nations culture and practices. I look forward to seeing how students and teachers use the new Junior Landcare resources.”

Landcare Australia CEO, Dr Shane Norrish, said: “Junior Landcare has always recognised the vital role children play in taking care of the natural environment and, thanks to the 2023 Woolworths Junior Landcare Grants program, we look forward to seeing even more children have the opportunity to take on this role.

“Moreover, as we continue to grow the number of First Nations perspectives resources on the Junior Landcare Learning Centre, we are thrilled to be able to support children and educators in building their knowledge of Traditional Land Management and Cultural Heritage when it comes to caring for our land and water.”

Applications for the 2023 Woolworths Junior Landcare Grants are open now and close 17 March 2023. To find out more about the Woolworths Junior Landcare Grants Program and to apply, visit juniorlandcare.org.au.

A guide of Top 10 Junior Landcare Projects is available here, with ideas to help bring environmental education and First Nations perspectives into your school or early learning centre.

– ENDS –

For media enquiries and interview requests, please contact:

Vanessa Chamoun, SOCIETY for Woolworths | [email protected] | 0432 400 617

Media Contact