MEDIA RELEASE
15th August 2024
The NSW Auditor General today released an audit highlighting the sorry state of threatened species protection in NSW, according to the state’s peak environmental organisation, the Nature Conservation Council.
“Sadly, today’s Auditor General report shines light on the decline of NSW’s unique wildlife,” said Nature Conservation Council CEO Jacqui Mumford.
“This audit shows the environment department is drowning with more and more plants and animals at risk of extinction, while funding to save them has been cut by 25%.
“Over 1,100 native animals, plants and ecological communities are listed as threatened in NSW, including our iconic koalas and greater gliders.
“The auditor also highlighted the risks from contradictory government actions, like the Forestry Corporation logging the very forests that are essential homes for threatened wildlife like koalas and gliders.”
We call on the NSW government to:
- End native forest logging in NSW, starting with delivering the full proposed Great Koala National Park,
- Make a significant public investment for threatened species recovery in line with the growing challenge.
- To deliver on its election promise to urgently rein in land clearing.
ENDS.
Excerpts from the Auditor General’s report:
- “The number of species and ecological communities that DCCEEW actively manages, or funds other entities to manage, has reduced by 19% since 2018–19. This decrease corresponds with a decline in program funding of 25% in 2021–22.”
- “DCCEEW did not deliver any conservation activities, including monitoring, for 69% of threatened species and ecological communities in 2022–23.”
- “Duplicative or contradictory efforts across government represent a key risk to the effectiveness and sustainability of DCCEEW’s activities for threatened species and ecological communities."
Read the full Audit report: https://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/our-work/reports/threatened-species