{"id":407471,"date":"2026-01-14T00:10:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T00:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/407471\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T00:10:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T00:10:17","slug":"ten-sydney-harbours-worth-of-threatened-species-habitat-approved-for-destruction-in-2025-report-finds-logging-and-land-clearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/407471\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten Sydney Harbours\u2019 worth of threatened species habitat approved for destruction in 2025, report finds | Logging and land-clearing"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 57,000 hectares of threatened species habitat was approved for destruction by the Australian government in 2025 \u2013 the most in 15 years, according to analysis by the Australian Conservation<\/a> Foundation.<\/p>\n

The ACF\u2019s latest annual \u201cextinction wrapped\u201d report has revealed that the threatened species habitat greenlit for land clearing was about 10 times the size of Sydney Harbour \u2013 more than double the 2024 figure<\/a>, and over five times the 10,426 hectares approved for razing in 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Former Greens leader Adam Bandt, the ACF\u2019s new chief executive, described the year-on-year doubling as \u201creally distressing\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people don\u2019t know that Australia is a global deforestation hotspot \u2026 every year, we lose more forest than the loss from the entire palm oil industry in Indonesia<\/a>,\u201d he said. \u201cThe nature that we love is under threat like never before.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ACF report also noted that 42 new plants and animals were added to Australia\u2019s list of species facing extinction.<\/p>\n

The northern quoll was the species worst affected by federally approved land clearing, with 7,643 hectares marked for destruction.<\/p>\n

Of the threatened species land clearing, 98% occurred in Western Australia, Queensland and New South Wales. The mining industry accounted for two-thirds of the area cleared.<\/p>\n

The Pilbara region of Western Australia had five animals worst affected by habitat destruction: the northern quoll, night parrot, ghost bat, Pilbara leaf-nosed bat and Pilbara olive python.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mining projects approved there are just so massive and so devastating for the threatened species that live there,\u201d Bandt said.<\/p>\n

Citing the elusive night parrot<\/a>, a bird thought to have been extinct for a century until 2013, Bandt said: \u201cTwo things happened to the night parrot in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne is it was moved officially a step closer to extinction and is now classified as critically endangered. The second is the government gave the green light to bulldoze over six Sydney Airports\u2019 worth of its habitat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federally approved land clearing was only the \u201ctip of the iceberg\u201d, Bandt added, as most clearing for agricultural purposes was not previously assessed under national environment laws.<\/p>\n

Reforms to nature legislation<\/a>, which passed in November, mean that some agricultural clearing, and clearing within 50 metres of waterways in Great Barrier Reef catchments, must now be assessed.<\/p>\n

Bandt, in his first month in the role as the ACF\u2019s CEO, added he was hopeful the new laws \u201ccould give nature a fighting chance\u201d, but noted \u201cthe devil will be in the detail\u201d.<\/p>\n

Under the legislation, the government will establish an environmental protection agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot will hinge now on how it is established and how it is resourced, and what rules it\u2019s given to enforce,\u201d Bandt said. \u201cIt can and should be a very strong watchdog for nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

A federal government spokesperson said the Albanese government \u201cremains committed to protecting Australia\u2019s unique and diverse plants and animals \u2013 that\u2019s why we fought so hard to introduce a national Environment Protection Agency and reform the EPBC Act at the end of last year\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the reforms, projects will need to demonstrate a net gain for nature to receive approval, providing stronger protections for threatened species and their habitats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe changes, some of which are now in force, and others which will start in coming months, will deliver stronger environmental protection and restoration, more efficient and robust project approvals, and greater accountability and transparency in environmental decision making.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 57,000 hectares of threatened species habitat was approved for destruction by the Australian government in 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-407471","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}