Mrs DE-ANNE KELLY —My question is addressed to the Minister for Primary Industries and Energy. A paper, `Land degradation and Australian agricultural industries' by research economist Mr Paul Gretton, was released this week. It was reported that almost 50 per cent of agricultural land in Victoria, about one-third of agricultural land in New South Wales and 15 per cent of agricultural land in Queensland was very seriously degraded. It is clear that the commitment by governments to this point of time has been insufficient. How do you propose to address this serious national challenge?

Mr ANDERSON —I thank the member for Dawson for this very important question that she has just raised. The report to which the member refers has confirmed what we have known for some time but have tended not to pay enough attention to—that is, the extent of land degradation in Australia is far greater than many people would at first think.

Indeed, in our highly urbanised society, where the problem is to a great extent out of sight, it is, therefore, sometimes out of mind. We can lose an understanding of how critically important our land and our soils, and what they produce, are to supporting our way of life. The cost not just to farmers but to regional economies, to our external account and, in a very real sense, to future generations is extraordinarily high—hundreds of millions of dollars a year in today's terms; heaven only knows what in the future.

That being the case, a significant increase in the level of commitment by government is required to assist in the task of addressing the problems. The farm community wants to address the problems. When it can—thanks largely to the sorts of policies that have been imposed upon it in recent years—it often finds it hard to muster sufficient resources. Government has a role to play as well, in terms not only of restoring the profitability of the farm community but also in addressing other issues.

The approach to date has, quite frankly, been insufficient. The previous government thought that a few small funding programs tossed around to cover the environmental issues that happened to be the flavour of the day would be enough—pretty systematic of the way in which they approached politics. Obviously what they did was insufficient.

This government clearly recognises the seriousness of the issue of land degradation. We have in place the largest and the most comprehensive integrated—I emphasise the word `integrated'—plan in the history of the nation to redress the problems that we face, of which the one alluded to by the member is just one but a very important one.

We want to get on with the job, we need to get on with the job and we want to start now. It has to be said again, and said until everyone's got the message, that any obstruction to the Natural Heritage Trust legislation will lead to further environmental damage. That is the reality. It will mean that further valuable natural resources will be destroyed because of the wilful actions of the opposition, wilful environmental vandalism. That is what it is.

The ALP approach to the environment has been flawed in the past; it is flawed at the moment. I finish by making this observation: it records no respect for future Australians, let alone current Australians, because in the terminology used recently in this place by the Treasurer what they are doing is engaging in nothing less than a form of intergenerational theft. We have to take actions now to secure the future for generations that follow.