Indigenous rangers across Australia have launched a national campaign to convince the Turnbull government to double its funding for their highly successful programs in the federal budget.
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The Indigenous Ranger program and Indigenous Protected Areas program have provided more than 2000 jobs for Aborigines, mostly in the Top End, and have proven a cost-effective way of protecting the environment.
Now a number of ranger and traditional owner groups have formed an alliance - Country Needs People - to convince the government to double their funding by 2020 to provide hundreds more jobs and ensure the land is protected from feral animals, invasive weeds and fire.
The current funding of about $67 million a year runs out in 2018, fuelling uncertainty among the groups.
The campaign, launched in Darwin on Saturday, will include TV, billboard, newspaper and online advertising and aims to demonstrate how the work programs have transformed lives and the environment.
Fabian Gaykamangu, a ranger on the Crocodile Islands who focuses on weed removal, is one of those whose lives have been changed.
"I'm a ranger for life. This is my favourite job and I always work hard to protect our country and help my community," he said.
A spokesman for Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion said the government has committed $350 million to support ranger programs and $75 million to support the protected areas program through to 2018.
"The minister will not speculate on funding to be contained in the 2016-17 budget. Any decisions regarding funding beyond 2018 will be considered closer to the date, as is the normal process," he said.
The plea for more funding came the same day Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull warned it would not be a "fistful of dollars" budget in May. But in his first Closing the Gap speech earlier this year, Mr Turnbull said it was "important we listen to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people when they tell us what is working".