Lisa Cox

Albanese government rejected advice on Tasmanian salmon farming impact before passing pro-industry laws FoI documents show ministers ignored recommendation for fresh inquiry that could have reduced or paused farming

Worth some attention and further questions amid everything else, imo

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

NT environmentalists ‘gobsmacked’ at federal green light to bulldoze nearly 3,000 hectares of tropical savanna Daly River region is home to threatened species such as the ghost bat, Gouldian finch, pig-nosed turtle and red goshawk

The environment minister, Murray Watt, has given the green light for the bulldozing of nearly 3,000 hectares of tropical savanna in the Northern Territory without an assessment under Australia’s nature laws.

Australia-US minerals deal underpinned decision to allow Alcoa to keep clearing WA forest, document reveals Document also shows US miner had been unlawfully clearing land for 15 years despite warnings from department

The Australia government’s decision to allow Alcoa to continue clearing WA forest was made in part due to a critical minerals deal reached between Australia and the Trump administration last year.

A document also shows the environment dept had told Alcoa since 2011 its clearing required approval.

Australia-US minerals deal underpinned decision to allow Alcoa to keep clearing WA forest, document reveals Document also shows US miner had been unlawfully clearing land for 15 years despite warnings from department

The Aus govt’s decision to allow Alcoa to continue clearing swathes of WA jarrah forest despite its illegal clearing practices was made in part due to a critical minerals deal reached between Australia and the Trump administration last year, a new document shows.

By @lisacox.bsky.social

Extreme heat lab: enduring the climate of the future Graham Readfearn enters a simulation to investigate how heatwaves affect the human body

Extreme heat lab: Enduring the climate of the future
with @readfearn.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Property developers spark anger over plan to clear woodland home to Baudin’s and Carnaby’s black cockatoos Proposal to replant inside a different type of protected woodland would not replicate diversity of cleared sites used by threatened cockatoo species, conservationists say

Property developers in Perth plan to bulldoze an endangered banksia ecosystem used by threatened black cockatoo species, and conservationists have warned the damage cannot be mitigated by proposed offsets.

The developers want to replant the ecosystem within a different type of protected woodland.

US mining company Alcoa hit with ‘unprecedented’ $55m penalty for illegal clearing of WA jarrah forests Environment minister says Alcoa cleared known habitat of protected species to enable bauxite mining

Environment minister hands “unprecedented” penalty to Alcoa but grants national interest exemption for further clearing of WA forest.

Australia projected to miss 2035 emissions reduction target ‘by a country mile’ unless it ramps up climate policies Climate change minister Chris Bowen acknowledges ‘additional work’ needed to meet 2035 goal

Australia projected to miss 2035 emissions reduction target ‘by a country mile’ unless it ramps up climate policies

Big day.

The rewriting of Australia’s nature laws comes as a relief, yet I can’t help feel a sense of foreboding | Georgina Woods The minister says quick approvals can happen while protecting the environment, but my experience tells me that haste brings unintended consequences

The rewriting of Australia’s nature laws comes as a relief, yet I can’t help feel a sense of foreboding.
By Georgina Woods

Long-sought environmental law reform is finally here. But will the compromise deal actually protect nature? After years of failed attempts, Australia’s environmental laws are finally getting an overhaul. But will they stop the damage done to nature?

First take on EPBC amendments in the compromise deal struck to get it passed

Justine Bell-James, @euanritchie.bsky.social, @drphilmccormack.bsky.social & me in @aunz.theconversation.com

#NativeForestLogging #MinisterialDiscretion #UnacceptableImpacts #PayToDestroy #NationalEnvironmentalStandards

Seven ways Australia’s nature laws are changing after Labor’s deal with the Greens Legislation to reform the EPBC Act runs to hundreds of pages – here are the main changes

Quick explainer on some of the main features of the new nature laws, noting some details remain to be seen

With Lisa Cox's years of detailed investigations & reporting, there's ZERO excuse to NOT KNOW the many & varied failures of NSW's biodiversity offset scheme

Choosing to repeat these mistakes is contempt of public interest biodiversity policy

#EPBC #BiodiversityOffsets #PayToDestroy

Biodiversity offsets failed to protect habitat in NSW. Now federal Labor is about to make the same mistakes, critics warn Offsets were meant to be a last resort for mitigating environmental damage from development projects, but rapidly became the default

The Albanese government’s nature reforms would change biodiversity offsets policy, including by setting up a “restoration contributions” fund. Guardian Australia reporting exposed major failures with a similar scheme in NSW. Experts are warning the federal plan could repeat those mistakes

Plan for Australia’s largest carbon capture project near Darwin criticised as creating ‘dumping ground’ Climate advocates fear the project, proposed by Japanese oil and gas giant Inpex, would turn the area into the ‘world’s largest carbon dumping ground’

Oil and gas giant Inpex has proposed Australia’s largest carbon capture facility in waters off the Northern Territory. By @petrastock.bsky.social

Will Labor’s environment laws actually address Australia’s biodiversity crisis? Five reasons to be concerned Experts say the proposed legislation is full of problems, including excessive ministerial discretion and relaxing like-for-like offset rules

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Will Labor’s environment laws actually address Australia’s biodiversity crisis? Five reasons to be concerned Experts say the proposed legislation is full of problems, including excessive ministerial discretion and relaxing like-for-like offset rules

Back from leave with some analysis of the government’s nature legislation

One postmortem shows one of the koalas had a joey when she was translocated. The joey was found dead in her pouch during a health check after the first koala deaths in April but the adult female was re-released. She was found on the ground in the forest in late May and died on the way to the vet.

NSW government rejected expert advice before failed koala reintroduction that left more than half dead Exclusive: Documents reveal state environment department had ‘reckless indifference’ to fate of individual koalas, Greens spokesperson Sue Higginson says

Exclusive: The NSW government rejected advice from an expert scientific panel before it attempted a failed reintroduction of koalas to a forest in the state’s south. 8 out of 13 koalas died, one more than the govt claimed, with postmortems showing emaciation and “undernutrition”.

‘Baudin’s or bauxite?’ Stark warning black cockatoo won’t survive mining expansion BirdLife WA calls consequences of Alcoa’s proposals to clear 11,000ha of jarrah forest ‘irreversible and catastrophic’ for endangered bird

‘Baudin’s or bauxite?’ Stark warning black cockatoo won’t survive mining expansion

‘So tiny and so vulnerable’: what chance will one of Australia’s smallest birds have against a rocket launchpad? When South Australia gave the go-ahead for a launch facility to be built at a site that’s home to the endangered southern emu-wren, conservationists were astounded

‘So tiny and so vulnerable’: what chance will one of Australia’s smallest birds have against a rocket launchpad? by @lisacox.bsky.social #birdoftheyear #birds www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Government required to create plan to protect greater glider in major legal win for Wilderness Society Murray Watt agrees recovery plans for greater glider, ghost bat, lungfish and sandhill dunnart were not made by successive governments

The federal environment minister has conceded that successive governments acted unlawfully when they failed to create mandatory recovery plans for native species threatened with extinction

That figure from the 2023 article includes the existing reserves. It’s stated in the piece you have linked. The commitment for new areas was 176,000 ha and that is also in the piece linked.

NSW Labor leader Luke Foley promises to establish koala national park The Great Koala National Park would cover more than 300,000 hectares on the state’s mid north coast north between Macksville and Woolgoolga

Labor first promised the park in 2015 - 176,000 ha of state forest to be added to existing protected areas. The announcement today was 176,000 ha of state forest to be added to existing protected areas. Total size will be 476,000 ha www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

NSW locks in great koala national park and brings in immediate ban on logging Minns government to create one of the largest national parks in the state as forest advocates welcome ‘historic’ victory

The Minns government has confirmed its long-awaited great koala national park, announcing it will add 176,000 hectares of forest to existing reserves in mid-north New South Wales to create one of the largest national parks in the state and protect more than 12,000 koalas.

WA museum tells staff ‘almost all of us are guilty’ of burning fossil fuels in email defending Woodside partnership Exclusive: Climate advocates reject CEO’s claim he is ‘not qualified’ to comment on risks of gas firm’s plan to extend production to 2070

The head of the Western Australian Museum has told staff that burning fossil fuels is something “almost all of us are guilty of in one way or another” in an email defending the institution’s renewed research partnership with Woodside.

Top 5 stories on Guardian Aus this morn are environment and climate related. To mark this occasion, a thread.

Environment watchdog buried report on lead in children’s blood to placate mining companies, emails show Documents tabled in parliament show NSW agency took four years to publish report and told miners it would be put online ‘quietly’ but EPA says it was released to community earlier

Environment watchdog buried report on lead in children’s blood to placate mining companies, emails show. By @natashamay.bsky.social

Queensland land-clearing figures show state remains ‘deforestation capital of Australia’, conservationists say Overall clearing was up 3%, with almost half in Great Barrier Reef catchment areas while 21% was remnant woodland, government data shows

Forest and woodland across an area more than 1,000 times the size of the Sydney CBD was bulldozed in Queensland in 2022-23, newly published figures show
- @lisacox.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Minns government’s environmental integrity condemned as ‘nonexistent’ amid 40% surge in land clearing Independent MP Jacqui Scruby says she saw ‘fresh koala scratchings on trees just metres from clear-felling’ in parts of proposed Great Koala national park

Minns government’s environmental integrity condemned as ‘nonexistent’ amid 40% surge in land clearing

- by @lisacox.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...