Protecting our biodiversity is up to all of us.

The South-East Marine Park Network requires reconfiguration, rigorous and transparent prioritisation with stakeholders, addition of new areas, and an increase the number of areas where fishing and mining are not allowed, to ensure the representation of all biodiversity in the region, including areas of high conservation and cultural value, biodiversity hotspots, and areas under greatest threat currently missing or outside of the current protected area.

The Biodiversity Council welcomed the opportunity to provide feedback into the Parliament of Victoria’s Select Committee Inquiry into Native Bird Hunting Arrangements. The Biodiversity Council does not support a continuation of recreational native bird hunting in Victoria in light of a range of factors, threats and documented declines. This  includes a decline in all waterbird species over the last 40 years observed in the annual Eastern Australian waterbird survey which began in 1983.

The Victorian Government today announced that it will exit native forest logging on 1 January 2024, six years ahead of the previous planned end date.  The Biodiversity Council welcomed the end of native forest logging in Victoria which it described as ‘highly unsustainable both ecologically and economically’, and flagged that active management of forests will be needed to heal damage, manage fire, and stem the massive impacts of invasive species.

The Biodiversity Council has assessed the federal budget as making some small and important steps towards better protecting nature, but overall is grossly inadequate to halt biodiversity declines and recover nature. To halt declines and prevent extinctions Australia needs to increase spending by around 6 times. That sounds like a big increase, but we currently spend a tiny amount on the environment compared to other areas of the budget. 

This submission provides input to the statutory review of the Biodiversity and Conservation Act 2016 (NSW) (BC Act). The primary purpose of the BC Act is “to conserve biodiversity at bioregional and State scales”. Unfortunately, we find that the BC Act is not currently achieving its purpose as biodiversity in NSW continues to decline.