Protecting our biodiversity is up to all of us.

Whilst establishment of the invasive verroa mite will have major impacts on Australia’s bee-keeping industry, it may deliver benefits for Australian wildlife by acting as an environmental biocontrol for feral honeybees. Competition from feral honeybees is recognised as a key threatening process to native wildlife that feed on nectar and pollen or that need tree hollows for denning and breeding. 

The Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has released the draft of the new Threat Abatement Plan for predation by feral cats for public comment. The Biodiversity Council believes the new draft plan to be scientifically robust and well designed to improve outcomes for at-risk native wildlife, and is calling for it to be adopted in full, and for the government to fully fund its implementation.  

The NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act was just reviewed by former Federal Treasury Secretary Ken Henry AO, who painted an alarming picture and found that without really major reform only half of NSW threatened species are expected to survive in 100 years. The Biodiversity Council urges the NSW Government to undertake the major reform needed to adequately protect nature in NSW, including the full adoption of the 58 recommendations of the Henry Review. 

The Biodiversity Council is calling on the Queensland Government to live up to its responsibility to protect the incredible wildlife and ecosystems of the Lake Eyre Basin by stopping the construction of new oil and gas facilities in the basin’s wetlands and floodplains. The Lake Eyre Basin supports an incredible array of native wildlife and provides critical habitat for important populations of waterbirds and threatened species that occur nowhere else on earth. Fracking and gas production present serious and irreversible risks to the water resources of the basin.

The Biodiversity Council welcomes the opportunity to provide a submission to the public consultation on the Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) concerning protection options that will be applied to the rivers and floodplains that form the Queensland part of the Lake Eyre Basin. The Lake Eyre Basin is a region of global natural and cultural significance. This submission incudes 5 recommendations to ensure the most ecologically sensitive areas are recognised and protected.