Gunnedah Urban Landcare Group will not receive $100,000 in funding from Labor’s community fund for its Habitat and Water Restoration to maintain Gunnedah Koalas Project due to a “perceived conflict of interest”.
Tamworth’s Labor candidate Kate McGrath nominated Gunnedah Urban Landcare Group for said funding, disclosing she was a council delegate.
She told the Gunnedah Times the delegate position has no voting or power and is used to encourage understanding of the community.
“Every candidate across the state made recommendations for projects that need funding up to $400,000,” she said.
With the drought and chlamydia that koalas suffered, she nominated Gunnedah Urban Landcare Group’s project for $100,000 of funding, which aligned with the interests of the Tamworth Labor Branch.
There were also nominations for other projects, such as community transport for the Liverpool Plains, that would impact local towns.
Mrs McGrath said that once the recommendation was made, the candidates stepped back and let the process take its course.
She said the result was a perceived conflict, which resulted in the nomination not receiving funding.
Mrs McGrath said the outcome was “disappointing” but understood having the “checks and balances” in the process was important.
“You just have to be upfront and honest about it,” she said.
That will be the approach she will continue to take in the future with further nominations.
“Obviously in a very small community, we all have perceived conflict … it is hard to control,” she said.
She believes the best approach is to be honest and disclose those involvements.
“I still think the [GULG] project has merit,” she said, hoping more people will get involved with the landcare group’s project.
“The $100,000 will not be allocated to the koala project, but will make its way into the community,” she said.
Gunnedah Urban Landcare Group chair George Truman said there was no other environmental group based in Gunnedah that was involved with koalas when the nomination was submitted.
“When nominated for the funding, we agreed to prepare a project for funding somewhat reluctantly given our limited resources – no paid staff and a limited number of volunteers,” he said.
“Koalas in the Gunnedah district had suffered a serious decline in numbers and there were no other projects or funding sources available to address the situation at a scale that might make a difference.
“GULG was glad that someone had recognised the need for action. However, GULG did not engage in any lobbying to gain access to any funding.”
Mr Truman said the project was to “establish a wildlife corridor from the tree planting near the new wildlife sanctuary to link with existing plantings near the AgQuip site”.
This aimed to provide a “biodiversity corridor” for animals including koalas. The group also intended on installing wildlife drinking stations in Goran and Breeza State Forest based on scientific observations and advice given for koalas in the area.
“Some serious planning work was done by key GULG members to prepare the project in order to meet the funding criteria which were fairly stringent.
“This involved many hours of volunteer time. There were also
landholders who had agreed to participate in and assist with the project,” he said.
“There was no political aspect to the project. GULG is non-political and was responding to an offer of potential funding.
“The issue of ‘conflict of interest’ was not due to any of the GULG members involved in preparing the project details or approving its submission. The issue was a matter associated with the offer and source of funding.
“The project was assessed as having significant merit by an independent assessment panel. GULG remains of the opinion that it was a well deserving of this well-planned project and was extremely disappointed by the outcome.”
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