National Threatened Species Day – Protection Efforts Grind To A Halt Kelvin Thomson - Shadow Minister for Sustainability and the Environment

Media Statement - 6 September 2003

Tomorrow is National Threatened Species Day. It should be a day of shame for the Howard Government, which has allowed the national process for protecting the habitat of endangered species to grind to a shuddering halt.

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBCA) requires the Environment Minister to keep a register of habitat ‘critical to the survival of an ecological community" (Section 207A). Prior to the last Federal election the Howard Government promised that "the Coalition will aim to ensure critical habitat is identified and entered in the Register of Critical Habitat for priority endangered and critically endangered species." (Government's Election 2001 Future Action Plan for a Better Environment).

It hasn't happened. Ecological community listings under the EPBCA by the Liberal and National Parties have dried up in the past two years. Only two ecological communities have been listed since April 2001, despite the fact that the Threatened Species Scientific Committee has been considering 500 ecological communities since November 2000.

This failure to act is driving our threatened and endangered species ever closer to the abyss of extinction. The Government's own Australian Terrestrial Biodiversity Assessment, released in April this year, found that

• Up to 3000 ecosystems are under threat, some beyond rehabilitation
• Australia's native birds are under threat in 240 regions
• 22 species of mammals are already extinct, and
• 40% of our wetlands are in poor condition.

Prior to the 2001 election the Liberal and National Party committed to referring the results of this Assessment to the Threatened Species Scientific Committee. The Environment Minister has failed to do so.

The Government must get serious about our threatened and endangered species before they are lost forever. It would be disgraceful if some of these birds, animals and plants were to become extinct on our watch. It must have the Threatened Species Scientific Committee make recommendations about appropriate listings for the Register of Critical Habitat, and take action to implement those recommendations.