The pace at which the Australian government is approving the destruction of habitat relied on by threatened species has increased in recent years, despite scientists warning of an escalating extinction crisis, according to an environment group analysis.
The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) compiled publicly available information on federal decisions that gave the green light to developments that involved clearing of forests and other areas relied on by threatened species.
It found levelling of more than 200,000 hectares of threatened species habitat – an area larger than Queensland’s Fraser Island (K’gari), or more than 100,000 Melbourne Cricket Grounds – was approved over the decade to the end of 2021. More than half of that total (120,000 hectares) had been approved in the five years since 2016.
ACF found nearly three-quarters of the clearing approved under national environment laws was for new and expanded mining developments. The most affected species was the koala, which in February was listed as endangered in New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT.
The foundation found more than 25,000 hectares of koala habitat had been approved for clearing. A fifth of that was to make way for one mine, the Olive Downs metallurgical coalmine in central Queensland, which last year received a $175m federal government loan to support its construction.
Other significantly affected threatened species included the critically endangered swift parrot, the greater glider (7,400 hectares), the forest red-tailed black cockatoo (1,800 hectares) and the spot-tailed quoll (1,200 hectares).
Jess Abrahams, a national nature campaigner with ACF, said the investigation had exposed the cumulative impact of federal government decisions made in isolation. It showed the commonwealth was “aggravating extinction” rather than protecting vulnerable native animals, she said.
Abrahams said federal data gave only a partial picture of land clearing across the country as two major industries – agriculture and native forest logging – were rarely assessed under national laws. Logging is effectively exempt from the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act under forestry deals between Canberra and the states.
“If we value Australia’s unique wildlife and plants we must do more to protect them,” Abrahams said. “That means stronger environment laws to stop the rampant wrecking of habitat revealed by this research, increased funding and specific plans for threatened species recovery.”
A spokesperson for the federal environment minister, Sussan Ley, said the ACF analysis looked at only one aspect of the environmental approval process, and did not take into account offset requirements to protect threatened species or how much approved clearing had ultimately occurred.
The spokesperson said $128.5m funding announced last week to “advance environmental law reform” would lead to better management of the cumulative impacts of developments in some areas by moving from project-specific to region-level assessment. It would also pay for a review of national offset strategies and improvements to data on threatened species, they said.
The opposition’s environment spokesperson, Terri Butler, said if elected later this year Labor would consider last year’s review of the EPBC Act led by the former competition watchdog head Graeme Samuel, including its advice about the importance of taking into account the cumulative impacts of developments.
“We will also address delays in recovery plans, including the one for the koala which is seven years late,” she said.
Dr Megan Evans, a lecturer and research fellow at the University of New South Wales in Canberra, said the results of the investigation were not surprising.
Evans said the federal government had no central record of how much threatened species habitat remained and officials relied almost entirely on information provided by developers when assessing proposals. Developments were routinely approved with a promise that offsets to limit their environmental impact would be decided later, she said.
“There is no centralised database of protected habitat data and offsets. The system is not transparent and it is getting worse,” she said.
Australia is the world’s capital for mammal extinction, with 34 species known to have died out since European colonisation. The Samuel review found Australia’s natural environment is in decline and the EPBC Act is failing.
A report by the auditor general last week found the federal government could not demonstrate it was protecting Australia’s endangered wildlife as it was not monitoring most species, habitats or threats. Meanwhile, a study by 38 scientists working across Australia and Antarctica last year found 19 ecosystems were collapsing due to the impact of humans and warned urgent action was required to prevent their complete loss.
