Abbott warns his own party scrapping Green Army 'hardly a smart move'

A plan to scrap Tony Abbott's ‘Green Army’ in the mid-year budget review has been met with vocal opposition by the former prime minister.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Environment Minister Greg Hunt plant trees during a visit to a green army project in Queanbeyan near Canberra. Source: AAP

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has publicly criticised his own party over a proposal to scrap his Green Army initiative.

In a social media post, Abbott wrote he was "dismayed by reports the Green Army may be scrapped".

"Not only has it been good for grassroots conservation, but it got unemployed people working too."

He said it was "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."

Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg indicated on Monday that the government planned to stop Mr Abbott's Green Army project.

Mr Frydenberg told ABC Radio: "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."

He said the work of the Green Army were "issues that have to be looked at in the overall context of the budget situation".

The initiative, led by former environment minister Greg Hunt, was implemented in 2013 in order to give unemployed young people work in local conservation projects across the country.

This year's federal budget, announced in May, included $360 million of funding over four years for the Green Army.

Last week the government agreed to allocate a further $100 million to Landcare Australia, which is a Green Army service provider, as the Greens Party supported the government changing the rate of tax paid by working backpackers to 15 per cent.

The future of the Green Army was not part of these negotiations, according to a spokesperson from the Greens.

However, Greens Party leader Richard Di Natale told SBS on Monday his party did not condone the program.

"We always opposed the Green Army. It was not an environmental program, it was an employment program and a bad one at that."

The projects include planting trees, monitoring native flora and fauna, and controlling weeds.

The Greens Party had criticised the program for underpaying participants.

By the end of August, the Green Army had completed 600 projects had were undertaking 260 others.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he would not comment on the future of the initiative until the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook statement is announced, due on December 19.

Landcare Australia has been contacted for comment.