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Melina Bath celebrates Landcare's 40 years while urging long-term Victorian funding certainty for volunteers and programsLandcare volunteers marked 40 years at State Parliament as Melina Bath praised their environmental work and urged the Victorian government to provide long-term funding certainty. By news@gippsland - 30th June 2026 - Back to News Landcare volunteers from Latrobe catchment, West Gippsland, Bass Coast and East Gippsland attended state parliament to celebrate 40 years of the valued community based program. The Nationals’ Member for Eastern Victoria, Melina Bath who is also Shadow Minister for Public Land Management was a gold sponsor of the bipartisan parliament event that celebrated Landcare’s success with state MPs. 
Melina Bath praised Landcare's 90,000 volunteers, celebrating their environmental achievements while calling for secure, long-term Victorian government funding Landcare success celebratedLandcare Victoria boasts over 90,000 volunteers who work collaboratively to restore local habitats, improve sustainable agricultural activity and develop the strength and resilience of our local areas. Speaking in state parliament Ms Bath congratulated local Landcare volunteers and facilitators for the important habitat restoration work they perform and called on the Allan government to deliver program funding certainty. "Landcare Victoria is a proven success story delivering highly quantifiable value with a verified $7:1 return on investment, it deserves to have reliable and long term funding granted by the state government," said Ms Bath. Funding certainty neededMs Bath called on Labor’s Minister for Environment to commit to consistent, long term funding for Landcare facilitators so they can plan and coordinate projects for the future. "The inconsistent funding model for Landcare places the resilience of our natural landscapes at risk and leaves our environment vulnerable to deterioration. Landcare facilitators and volunteers are incredibly dedicated and already achieve great results with limited resources on a shoestring budget." "With secure funding they would be better equipped to expand their efforts, improve environmental outcomes and deliver even greater benefits for our community. It is highly remiss of the Allan government to recognise Landcare’s contribution but fail to deliver program funding that extends beyond two years," said Ms Bath. Pictures from Bass Coast Landcare Network Facebook page.
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: news@gippsland.com
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