State of the Environment

2006

Indicator: HS-80 Environmental expenditure

Data

Total expenditure, by level of government, 2002-03

Total expenditure, by level of government, 2002-03

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004, Environment expenditure local government Australia 2002-2003, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra.

Environmental expenditure, by level of government, 2002-03

Environmental expenditure, by level of government, 2002-03

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004, Government finance statistics 2002-2003, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra.

Environmental expenditure as proportion of total expenditure, by level of government, 2002-03

Environmental expenditure as proportion of total expenditure, by level of government, 2002-03

Note: State and Australian government environmental expenditure includes water supply, sanitation and protection of the environment, agriculture, forestry and fishing.
Local government environmental expenditure includes both capital and current expenditure in the areas of solid waste, waste water, biodiversity, soils, cultural heritage, land management, water supply and other environmental activities.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004, Environment expenditure local government Australia 2002-2003, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004, Government finance statistics 2002-2003, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra.

Sanitation and protection of the environment ($m)
2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05
New South Wales 344 351 452 375 441
Victoria 74 65 223 166 252
Queensland 100 117 79 76 88
South Australia 82 105 109 130 224
Western Australia 63 58 42 48 55
Tasmania 13 13 13 14 4
Northern Territory 6 5 1 2 2
Australian Capital Territory 21 15 15 12 22
Total All States 701 730 934 823 1,087

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006, Government Finance Statistics, ABS, Canberra.

Whole-of-government environment-related estimated expenditure, Australian government

Whole-of-government environment-related estimated expenditure, Australian government

Source: Department of the Environment and Heritage 2006, Environment Budget Overview 2005-06, viewed 5 Jun 2006, http://www.deh.gov.au/about/publications/budget/2005/ebo/index.html

Major agency contributions to environment-related estimated expenditure 2004-05 to 2005-06, Australian government, $million
Department/Agency 2004-05 2005-06
DEH 472.8 528.0
DAFF 137.8 187.9
Joint DAFF/DEH 389.0 470.3
Subtotal DAFF/DEH 999.6 1186.1
DOTARS 405.2 423.4
AusAID 278.0 305.0
NWC 56.9 283.0
Customs 2790. 270.2
CSIRO 231.3 207.7
ATO 71.0 74.0
DEST 55.2 59.6
Other (Agencies not separately listed) 308.3 343.2
Total 2685.2 3152.2

Source: Department of the Environment and Heritage 2006, Environment Budget Overview 2005-06, viewed 5 Jun 2006, http://www.deh.gov.au/about/publications/budget/2005/ebo/index.html

Capacity of council to participate in regional plan development and implementation

Capacity of council to participate in regional plan development and implementation

Source: Shepherd, C. 2003, The Risk/Reward Trade-off that is shrinking the population of rural Australia, Penguin, Melbourne.

What the data mean

At $4.6 billion in 2002-3, local government environmental expenditure accounted for more than half of total environmental spending across Australia’s three spheres of government. Environmental work accounts for more than a quarter of local government total annual expenditure, six per cent of State and Territory government, and one per cent of Australian government spending.

There have been increases in expenditure in most States and Territories. However, according to a 2005 survey, only 31 per cent of councils considered that they had a comprehensive or good capacity to take up natural resource management initiatives.

Australian government environmental expenditure, for all agencies, has increased each year since 2001-2002.

Issues for which this is an indicator and why

Human Settlements — General responses provided to improve the environment - Environmental expenditure 

While it is the reasoned use of public money and the effectiveness of that use that are the real indicators of the public response to environmental issues, trends in total government expenditure is an indicator of the increasing or decreasing seriousness of public concern.

Key

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