MEDIA RELEASE
April 23rd 2024
The Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales (NCC), the state’s leading environmental advocacy organisation, has today criticised the NSW Government for dragging its feet over inadequate regulations that allow unregulated habitat clearing on freehold land.
A 2020 Parliamentary Inquiry found that habitat clearing laws in NSW would drive koalas to extinction by 2050. Yet since NSW Labor was elected, nothing has changed.
Not long after the NSW Government took office Ken Henry released his review of the Biodiversity Conservation Act clearly finding it is not protecting biodiversity. We need to hear the government’s response with a commitment to addressing biodiversity loss.
“A landholder can just tick a box saying there is no threatened species habitat on their land and then start clearing without any oversight,” said Nature Conservation Council NSW CEO Jacqui Mumford.
“If you speak to any ecologist, they will tell you that without specialist training and knowledge it’s extremely unlikely people will accurately assess an area’s ecological value or be able to identify if endangered species like koalas are present on their land.
“That means that every day reform is delayed, more koala habitat is destroyed, and these iconic species go further down the path of extinction.”
Statements attributable to NCC Chief Executive Officer Jacqui Mumford
“The Henry Review is perfectly clear that the Biodiversity Conservation Act doesn’t do what it set out to do – it doesn’t conserve biodiversity. We need to hear how the government intends to change that.
“Time and again I’ve voiced the same obvious message – stop the destruction of koala habitat, because koalas need trees.
“Meanwhile, koala habitat across NSW continues to be destroyed.
“There is no requirement for an independent ecological assessment by a qualified ecologist on freehold land, before destroying habitat for endangered species such as koalas.
“Landowners can simply determine that an area is not important for koalas and then bulldoze the lot.
“This John Barilaro-legacy habitat clearing free-for-all should have been low-hanging fruit for the incoming Labor Government, but Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty is stonewalling attempts to fix it.
“It’s also extremely concerning how little we know about koala habitat being cleared on freehold land – there is no accurate data due to the ‘self-assessment loophole’ introduced by the former government.
“One thing we do know is that this regulatory blind spot should have been one of the first things on Labor’s agenda when they took office.
“Since the rollback of regulations in 2016 habitat clearing rates in NSW tripled. NSW are leaders in deforestation and it’s time we turned that around.”
Statement ends
Media contact: Anna Greer
E: [email protected] M: 0493 733 529 PH: (02) 7208 9482
Note: NCC CEO Jacqui Mumford is available for comment on request