Concentrated excessive growth and density in urban centres puts a great strain on the environment. To limit this, we must decentralise a large proportion of the projected growth from the major cities to provincial centres.
It is the responsibility of State and Territory governments to ensure that:
- All our population has a right to accessing clean air and water, freedom from pollution – including that of noise and easy public access to places of natural beauty;
- Legal aid funds should be allocated for community-initiated legal proceedings aimed at bringing corporate offenders to account for deliberately breaching environmental protection laws.
It is the responsibility of government to promptly undertake both risk assessments and appropriate action for new products and technology. This extends to existing products and technologies, whenever evidence of risk emerges to public health and/or the environment.
Community-based efforts to care for the environment such as tree-planting programs, LandCare and Clean Up Australia Day should be supported and encouraged to a greater extent through funding and incentives.
As a general principle, whenever an area of native bush land is cleared for development, another equivalent area should be protected or created.
The need to protect native plants and natural beauty must be considered before any action taken toward development.
The DLP will continue to support programs and organisations that operate to protect endangered species of Australian wildlife.