Loss of koala habitat shows ‘total failure’ of nature laws, conservationists say | Wildlife

More clearing of koala habitat has been approved under Australia’s nature laws in 2025 so far than in any other year since the marsupial was listed as a threatened species, according to an analysis by the Australian Conservation Foundation.

The destruction of 3,958 ha of bush approved across eight projects, including a coalmine in Queensland, equates to about four Sydney airports’ worth of clearing.

The environment group said despite the government’s commitment to zero new extinctions the data highlighted that nature laws were failing to protect the endangered species from harm.

“Given that the koala has been recognised as threatened with extinction since 2012 and therefore should be protected from harm, this underscores the total failure of the current laws to keep trees in the ground and prevent the further decline of the species,” ACF nature campaigner Darcie Carruthers said.

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The analysis came as New South Wales announced its long-awaited great koala national park, in a “historic” victory for community environment advocates who had lobbied successive state governments for more than a decade.

The koala was first listed as vulnerable under national laws in 2012. Its conservation status was upgraded to endangered in 2022 – meaning its trajectory had worsened – with habitat destruction and fragmentation identified as a major and increasing threat.

The ACF analysis examined project approvals under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act that affect koala habitat. The nature group separately used state government land-clearing data in NSW and Queensland to calculate how much koala habitat had been cleared in those states from 2011 to 2023 – the most recent year for which data was available.

It found 2,295,134 ha of bushland that was likely koala habitat – more than twice the size of greater Melbourne – had been destroyed in that period. More than 1.9m ha of that clearing was in Queensland. The ACF said 98% of the clearing had not been referred for any assessment for its environmental impacts under national law, with agriculture the biggest driver of the destruction.

“The very law meant to protect nature is so poorly enforced that it has failed to stop nearly 2.3m hectares of likely koala habitat from being bulldozed and cut down,” Carruthers said.

The analysis found native forest logging, particularly in NSW, was also contributing to koala habitat loss, with 391,170 ha of likely koala habitat destroyed by logging operations over the 12-year period.

Carruthers said a forthcoming overhaul of the EPBC act “must set clear rules to protect habitat for threatened species like the koala, close loopholes that enable rogue bulldozers and establish an independent watchdog to enforce the law”.

The environment minister, Murray Watt, has said the promised reforms will be put to the parliament this year and that delay would hold up investment in projects and cause more environmental destruction.

A 2020 review of the EPBC Act by the former competition watchdog head Graeme Samuel found successive governments had failed to protect Australia’s unique species and ecosystems, which were in unsustainable decline.

Dr Kita Ashman, an adjunct professor at Charles Sturt University, urged the government to adopt Samuel’s recommendation to abolish the effective exemption from environment laws granted to all native forest logging covered by regional forestry agreements between the federal and state governments.

“The way regional forests agreements operate under the EPBC Act is effectively as a backdoor for destructive practices like logging to continue with very little scrutiny,” she said.

“If we remove this loophole, it will mean climate refuges and places that are critical for the survival of the species will remain intact.”

A spokesperson for the federal environment department said all projects referred to the government were assessed on a “case-by-case basis” and developers were required to demonstrate they had avoided and mitigated potential damage to the environment to the greatest extent possible.

“The Australian Government is committed to strengthening and streamlining our national environmental laws and establishing a national environment protection agency (EPA),” they said.

“One of the key pillars of the new laws will be stronger environmental protection and restoration including through introducing new national environmental standards. These standards will improve environmental protection and guide decision making.”

They said Watt was consulting extensively ahead of the reforms, which would deliver “a balanced package of changes, based around the recommendations of the 2020 Samuel Review”.

The spokesperson said the federal saving koalas fund had invested more than $76m in koala conservation measures.