Australia is one of the only two mega-diverse countries in the developed world.[1] However, as at 2021, a further 8% of its species were listed either as threatened, or in a higher category of threat, than in 2016,[2] and each threatened species facts an average of four different threats[3].
The recently released Australia state of the environment 2021 report observed that:
‘the state and trend of Australia’s ecosystems and species continue to decline’.[4]
It noted that ‘disconnected legislative and institutional national, state and territory systems’, [5] and poor law and policy contribute to significant detrimental outcomes. [6]
Action on this crisis is desultory. Four years ago, in 2018, the Senate referred an Inquiry into Australia’s Faunal Extinction Crisis to the Environment and Communications References Committee. Its Terms of Reference included consideration of the ongoing decline in the population and conservation status of Australia’s nearly 500 threatened fauna species, and the wider ecological impact of faunal extinction. The reporting deadline for the Inquiry was extended several times, most recently to 2 August 2022. In the interim, the Australian National Audits Office noted a ‘generally passive approach to managing non-compliance’ by the Department. [7]
It is now urgent that the Inquiry completes its report and that the current government then moves promptly to develop and implement policy and law reform in this important area.
Key areas for policy and regulatory reform are:
- at minimum, strategic advocacy for endangered species protection at key national forums such as COAG and Environment Ministers’ meetings;
- rigorous identification, protection and restoration of critical habitat, including climate refugia;
- effective enforcement of non-compliance;
- ensuring State impact assessment and approvals consider cumulative impacts on threatened species;
- strict regulation of biodiversity offsets to secure ‘net gains’;
- strong implementation of recovery plans and threat abatement plans;
- bioregional planning that protects ecological integrity at a landscape scale;
- adequate and urgent funding;
- a national investment strategy pooling resources and brokering for national, state and regional biodiversity conservation goals; and
- an expanded National Reserve System.
The Law Council of Australia made several submissions to the process, which, together with a set of allied submissions to the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements and the Independent Review of the EPBC Act. The Law Institute of Victoria also gave input.
KELLEHERS AUSTRALIA
Cameron Algie, LLB (Hons), Dr Leonie Kelleher OAM
31 August 2022
Copyright © Kellehers Australia 2022.
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation
This fact sheet is intended only to provide a summary and general overview on matters of interest. It does not constitute legal advice. You should always seek legal and other professional advice which takes account of your individual circumstances.
[1] Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Australia’s Sixth National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity 2014‒2018 (Commonwealth of Australia, 2020), 99. The U.S.A. is the second mega-diverse developed country.
[2] Cresswell ID, Janke T & Johnsto
n EL, Australia state of the environment 2021: Report to the Australian Government Minister for the Environment (Commonwealth of Australia, 2021), 56.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid, 11.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid, 48, 76, 100, 110, 112, 122.
[7] See Australian National Audit Office, Managing Compliance with Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 Conditions of Approval (Audit Report No 43, 2013–14); and Australian National Audit Office, Managing Compliance with the Wildlife Trade Provisions of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Audit Report No 7, 2015–16).
Leave a Reply