Mr. John Murphy:

That is a huge issue for us because all these schemes, by their nature, have been short cycle. The special area of conservation designation of lands 20 years ago involved a number of initiatives to make payments, then the payments evaporated and disappeared and farmers were left with the consequences of it. It is a valid point that these payments should be on a more secure footing and we would entice landowners and farmers into it, since they would see a long-term future in it. The Senator is right about lifestyle choices. The point I would make is that, in years to come, there will be many landowners who will not be farmers, as the structure changes and we move on in the next ten, 20 or 30 years, and they might have different ambitions for that type of land and what they want to use it for. To incentivise people, long-term funding to make a return from it is needed. We were disappointed when we saw that a Government raided a heap of that money for the metro. How it can equate a metro with nature and sustainability is a difficult question. We have to keep our message out in front and work to get the best stake out of it. I take the Senator's point that it is important that the schemes have more long-term funding.