Australia Yearbook - 2001

604 Year Book Australia 2001
Local government
expenditure on protection of
the environment
The ABS publication Environment Expenditure,
Local Government, Australia (4611.0) presents
information for local governments across
Australia on their expenditure on services and
activities to protect the environment. The
underlying survey also collects data on what is
spent on managing natural resources, and
measures councils’ revenues in relation to
provision of environment protection and natural
resource management services. This information
is important because the collective activities of
local governments have a significant influence on
environmental outcomes in Australia.
Table 14.36 presents, for all local governments
combined, revenue and expenditure figures for
environment protection activities (data for
natural resource management are not presented),
classified into the following environmental
categories: waste water management; solid waste
management; protection of soil and ground
water; protection of biodiversity and landscape;
protection of ambient air and climate; protection
of cultural heritage and other environmental
protection. Revenue as a percentage of
expenditure explores this relationship by
environmental category; this highlights which
environmental categories are largely funded by
revenue received for those categories.
Total national expenditure by local governments
on environment protection in 1998–99 was $2.1b,
while natural resource management by local
governments accounted for $1.3b. Other findings
from the 1998–99 survey were: local government
revenue from environment related activities
accounted for 18% ($2.8b) of all council revenue;
expenditure on solid waste (rubbish) collection
amounted to approximately 41% of total
expenditure by local governments on
environment protection, while waste water
management accounted for 45% ($881m and
$965m respectively); protecting ambient air and
climate was the least significant (in terms of
expenditure) environmental activity reported by
councils (expenditure of about $3.7m).
14.36 LOCAL GOVERNMENT ENVIRONMENTAL EXPENDITURE AND REVENUE, By Category
Revenue as proportion of
Expenditure
Revenue
expenditure
Environmental category
$m
$m
%
Waste water 965.2 825.6 85.5
Solid waste 881.2 840.4 95.4
Biodiversity and landscape 106.4 43.6 41.0
Soil and ground water 48.3 5.2 10.8
Air and climate 3.7 0.1 2.7
Cultural heritage 19.7 18.4 93.4
Other 101.7 79.9 78.6
Total 2 126.1 1 813.2 85.3
Source: Environment Expenditure, Local Government, Australia, 1998–99 (4611.0).