Source : Perth Now news
A landmark citizen scientist probe has uncovered thousands of hectares of potentially illegally bulldozed forest across Queensland and NSW, as activists put the spotlight on Labor’s environmental reforms.
Early findings by the Australian Conservation Foundation reported several cases of deforestation in southeast Queensland and Western NSW, including thousands of hectares of habitat critical to koalas and the vulnerable pink cockatoo.
ACF Head of Investigations Annica Schoo said the investigation only scratched “the surface”, and comes at a critical time just over six months since Labor passed sweeping reforms to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act with support from the Greens.
“Our citizen scientists and investigators have been working hard to uncover potentially illegal bulldozing across the country, and we feel confident we’ve helped stop active high-risk clearing in a few locations,” she said.
“As new national environment laws are being implemented, the Albanese government must ensure the new National Environmental Protection Agency gets on with the job of making sure the laws are complied with.”
No landowners are accused of any wrongdoing.
More than 1600 citizen scientists from 39 countries took part in the investigation.
In total, almost 1.1 million hectares of land was surveyed – about 1.6 times the size of Tasmania.
One case in Undullah, east of the Gold Coast, involved about 700Ha of koala habitat allegedly being bulldozed, with ACF stating it had reported the incident to the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
“So far, we have identified four Queensland clearing events that relate to housing developments, potentially impacting koala habitat without seemingly following the proper assessments,” Ms Schoo said.
Another cases reported by ACF involved the clearing of about 5000Ha of possible pink cockatoo habitat at Byrock, southeast of Bourke, in Western NSW.
Elsewhere, in the state’s north, the agency alleged koala habitat may also have been cleared.
In total, 22 cases had so-far been reported to either state or federal departments, ACF said.
State and federal departments were contacted for comment.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the federal DCCEEW said it was aware of allegations of land clearing at Undullah in Queensland and at Niangala and Byrock in NSW, “including potential impacts on threatened species”.
“All three matters have been referred to the department and are at different stages of assessment,” the spokesperson said.
The Albanese government and federal Environment Minister Murray Watt heralded last year’s reforms as a turning point in green regulation, driving not just new safeguards but streamlining delivery of major project approvals.
However, key measure remain untested.
The National Environment Protection Agency is expected to launch on July 1.
Consultation is also underway on the National Environment Standards, which will for the first time set clear benchmarks on the environmental outcomes required to be met when a project is being assessed under national environmental law.
Meanwhile, the NSW government last year announced the long-awaited borders of the Great Koala National Park on the state’s Mid-North Coast, which involved a moratorium on native forest logging with the future park bounds.
