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Part C - Agency Budget Statements (continued)
Department of the Environment and Heritage (continued)

Section 2 - Outcomes and Outputs Information Outcome 1 - Environment (continued)
Performance Information for Departmental Outputs - Output 1.3 Coasts

• Sub Output:
• Effectiveness Statement
• Description
• Strategic Priorities
• Effectiveness in Delivering the Output
• Performance in Delivery of Departmental Outputs

SUB OUTPUT:

Coasts, oceans, estuaries and coastal wetlands

EFFECTIVENESS STATEMENT

Australia's coasts and estuaries are protected and managed in an ecologically sustainable way.

DESCRIPTION

Eighty-five percent of Australia's population lives in coastal areas highlighting the importance of managing the environment and resources of the coastal zone.

The Department of the Environment and Heritage works co-operatively with other Australian Government and state/territory agencies to protect and restore significant coastal and estuarine ecosystems.

The Department is working with state and territory governments under the Framework for the National Cooperative Approach to Integrated Coastal Management to improve water quality, conserve biodiversity and protect the economic base of the coastal zone. The framework addresses issues that are of national scale or scope, or where complementary arrangements between jurisdictions will benefit from a national approach.

There are six priority areas under the framework: improving integration across the coastal zone; land and marine based sources of pollution; managing climate change; pest plants and animals; planning for population change; and, capacity building.

The protection and improvement of the quality of coastal waters is a priority for Government actions in the coastal zone. The Coastal Catchments Initiative (CCI) supports development of Water Quality Improvement Plans, prepared consistent with the Australia Government's Framework for Marine and Estuarine Water Quality Protection.

A particular priority of the Australian Government is the protection of the Queensland coast adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef. The Australian and Queensland Governments, together with stakeholders, are implementing the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan, which aims to halt and reverse the decline in water quality entering the Reef within ten years.

In a further demonstration of its commitment to the protection of the Queensland coast, the Australian Government is implementing the CCI and the Great Barrier Reef Coastal Wetlands Protection Programme.

The Department is also actively seeking to improve the environment of the coastal zone through the control of pest plants and animals. The development and implementation of the National System for the Prevention, Emergency Control and Ongoing Management of Invasive Marine Species will involve reducing marine pest translocation risks, including through the implementation of a coastal ballast water management regime.

STRATEGIC PRIORITIES

The Australian Government's medium term strategic priorities for Output 1.3 are to:

• Implement Integrated Coastal Management

The Framework for the National Cooperative Approach to Integrated Coastal Management and the proposed implementation strategy allow all levels of government to cooperatively implement integrated coastal management.

The proposed implementation plan includes 44 measures to support integrated coastal management. These measures are those that are of a national scale or scope, or where complementary arrangements between jurisdictions will benefit from a national approach. The implementation of these measures will move jurisdictions towards integrated coastal management.

• Protect and improve the quality of coastal waters

The CCI aims to address coastal and urban water quality 'hotspots' through the development and implementation of Water Quality Improvement Plans (WQIPs).

WQIPs are being developed for the Derwent Estuary, Moreton Bay, Peel Inlet and Harvey Estuary, Adelaide's Port Waterways and for the waterways in the Douglas Shire in north Queensland. These Plans will identify the most cost-effective and timely projects for investment by all parties to achieve target pollutant load reductions. While the Plans will be completed by 2006, significant improvements in water quality are not likely to be seen before 2010.

Priority projects are also under way in these catchments to address institutional or regulatory barriers to WQIP implementation, establish water quality monitoring programmes, water sensitive urban design, catchment water quality decision-support systems, or generate land use and water quality information required in the WQIP.

Once accredited, WQIPs will be incorporated into regional NRM plans and be accorded a priority for funding through associated NRM investment strategies.

The Government will expand the CCI during 2004 05 to address water quality in Port Phillip Bay. Under the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan, the Government will provide the CCI an additional $9 million during 2004-06 to protect Great Barrier Reef water quality by developing WQIPs and implementing priority projects for catchments representing a high risk to Reef water quality.

• Halt and reverse the decline in water quality entering the Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is one of Australia's most important natural ecosystems. The Australian Government is committed to improving the water quality of the Reef and in turn protecting the biodiversity, tourism and fishing values of the planet's largest World Heritage Area. The wetlands adjacent to the Reef play and important role in filtering the water entering the reef lagoon so that it is free of harmful sediments. Land use adjacent to the Reef is having an adverse impact on the quality of the water entering the reef lagoon.

In December 2003 the Australian and Queensland Governments agreed to the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan. The Plan has 65 actions that, together with actions by regional bodies under the Regional Plans, and the protection of coastal wetlands through the Great Barrier Reef Coastal Wetlands Protection Programme and the Trust's Queensland Wetlands Programme, are aimed at halting and reversing the decline in water quality entering the Great Barrier Reef.

EFFECTIVENESS IN DELIVERING THE OUTPUT

Coast, oceans, estuaries and coastal wetlands

Effectiveness Indicator: Improved water quality at coastal and urban hotspots

Governments have identified coastal and urban water quality hotspots in each state and territory, and in the Great Barrier Reef. Approaches to addressing coastal and urban water quality have also been agreed by Governments.

A number of programmes, notably the Coastal Catchments Initiative and the NAP (where the catchments are coastal) and the Trust's Regional Component, together with state, territory and local government and regional communities are working to address water quality in these priority areas. Monitoring programmes are included within the approach, enabling the assessment of water quality change.

Governments have agreed to a framework for a cooperative approach to integrated coastal management. The 44 measures proposed to be implemented under the Framework seek to address a number of important issues in achieving integrated coastal management, for example, improved governance arrangements, incorporating population data into coastal zone planning, minimising the impact of marine debris on wildlife, and better understand the impact of climate change on the coastal zone.

PERFORMANCE IN DELIVERY OF DEPARTMENTAL OUTPUTS

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