Former prime minister Tony Abbott has slammed the federal government's plans to axe the Green Army environmental program, suggesting Malcolm Turnbull is caving in to the Greens.
Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg all but confirmed reports the $350 million program would be scrapped on Monday, as the government's Expenditure Review Committee ticks off on savings ahead of this month's budget update.
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Green Army in retreat
The Greens are celebrating reports that Tony Abbott's 'Green Army' is to be axed, but Malcolm Turnbull is declining to confirm its demise. Courtesy ABC News 24.
Established after Mr Abbott's 2013 election victory, the Green Army was designed to use the manpower of up to 15,000 unemployed young people, aged 17 to 24, for conservation projects in every state and territory.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he wouldn't comment on the project's demise before the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook statement, due on December 19, while Green Army service providers were surprised by the reports.
"I'm dismayed by reports the Green Army may be scrapped," Mr Abbott wrote on Facebook.
"Not only has it been good for grass roots conservation but it got unemployed people working too.
"It's a bad principle to axe your own policy for the Greens policy because it means that their priorities are more important than ours.
"That would hardly be a smart move for a centre right government."
The May budget included $360 million in funding over four years for the program, but the government promised to allocate an additional $100 million to Landcare last week to win support from the Greens for changes to rate of tax paid by backpackers.
The Green Army was not part of the Greens' deal with the government, which requires the extra funds for Landcare not be taken from existing environmental programs.
Mr Frydenberg told ABC radio on Monday it had been "very successful" but he'd wait to see if it would continue.
"Whether it's planting two million trees as a result of the Green Army or ridding 90,000 hectares of weeds, but these are issues that have to be looked at in the overall context of the budget situation," he said.
"I don't want to pre-empt what will be released in MYEFO, other than to say we have to find savings across the board."
Greens leader Richard Di Natale welcomed the decision.
"We always opposed the Green Army. It was not an environmental program, it was an employment program and a bad one at that."
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