Good morning. A “decade of government inaction and wilful ignorance” is blamed as Australia releases its latest, “shocking” environment scorecard. A majority of Aboriginal souvenirs sold are fakes with no connection to Indigenous people. And health workers paint a dire picture of the country’s hospital system as more than 8,500 isolate because of Covid.
The health of Australia’s environment is poor and has deteriorated over the past five years due to pressures of climate change, habitat loss, invasive species, pollution and mining, according to a government report. The state of the environment report – a review completed by scientists last year but held back by the Morrison government until after the federal election – found abrupt changes in some Australian ecosystems over the past five years. The environment and water minister, Tanya Plibersek, said it was a “shocking document” that told “a story of crisis and decline, and of a decade of government inaction and wilful ignorance”.
