A code that classifies native plants including coolabah trees, river red gums and mulga wattle as “invasive” species has led to the approval of more than 3.2 million hectares of land for clearing, according to the Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales (NCC).
The peak conservation body has called for the classification to be scrapped to rein in what it considers excessive “high-risk” land clearing in NSW.
NCC conservation officer Candice Bartlett, who authored a new report on the code, said the NCC found no scientific basis for the “invasive” label, with 44 of the 45 species listed as invasive native species (INS) occurring within their natural range.
Candice Bartlett has investigated how many NSW land clearing permits are under “invasive native species” provisions. (Supplied: Nature Conservation Council)
“[INS] is a term unique to NSW and it’s creating a legal pathway to destroy native vegetation,” she said.
Ms Bartlett said the INS code allowed up to 90 per cent of native vegetation to be removed from a 1,000 hectare block.
There are disputes about land clearing in north-west NSW. (Supplied: Nature Conservation Council)
According to the report, titled NSW’s INS Label: How a misleading classification is driving broadscale clearing in NSW, the 3.2 million hectares approved for clearing includes 2.3 million hectares covered by legacy permits valid until the early 2030s.
They were issued under the Native Vegetation Act 2003, which was repealed in 2017.
The Nature Conservation Council has found approvals for land clearning are concentrated in north-west NSW. (Supplied: Nature Conservation Council)
Another 922,000 hectares of clearing has been approved since 2018 under the current Land Management Code.
The report found at least 171 threatened plant and animal species have been recorded within these INS habitats.
“It is a huge risk to biodiversity if [these approvals] were to be acted on,” Ms Bartlett said.Government defends INS framework
NSW government data released last week showed land-clearing rates rose 16 per cent from 2023 to 2024, with nearly half of authorised native vegetation clearing carried out under the INS provisions.
Local Land Services, which determines the species on the INS list and assesses land-clearing permits, said in a statement that the INS code supported normal farm management and could also benefit other species and habitats.
“Invasive native species are native woody plants that either regenerate thickly following disturbance, or encroach on vegetation communities where they previously did not occur,” an LLS spokesperson said.
“Clearing invasive native species can promote regeneration and regrowth of native vegetation and improve environmental outcomes such as avoiding soil erosion and maintaining habitat in mature vegetation.”
NSW farmers oppose INS changes
The NSW Farmers Association said the scale of total permits was not reflective of actual clearing that had or would occur.
Bronwyn Petrie says the association would “vehemently oppose” the removal of the INS code. (Supplied: Bronwyn Petrie)
“Just because there is an approval over an area does not mean that it will all be cleared,” said Bronwyn Petrie, conservation and resource management committee chair.
Ms Petrie said removing the INS code would have “dire consequences”.
“Invasive native scrub, INS, is a serious issue affecting large areas of central and western New South Wales and rangelands elsewhere,” she said.
“The encroaching and dense regeneration of native trees and shrubs impacts on farm production, communities, and the environment.”
Ms Petrie disputed that a plant growing in its natural range should not be deemed “invasive”, describing a property near Tenterfield with native cypress pine trees as an “environmental desert”.
Land in north-west NSW where the Australian native tree cypress pine grows. (Supplied: Bronwyn Petrie)
“You can hardly walk between the trees. There’s nothing on the ground whatsoever, just bare dirt,” she said.
“Our birdlife is suffering as a result. Our macropods are suffering because there’s no grasses for them to eat.”
Ms Petrie said within six months of a CSIRO trial plot that cleared some trees, there was a “massive increase” in ground cover, which supported more biodiversity and improved long-term land management.
Ground cover has returned to the area where cypress pines were cleared. (Supplied: Bronwyn Petrie)
Research changes scientist’s mind
University of New South Wales environmental scientist David Eldridge spent the first decade of his career working for the state government in western NSW, supporting graziers and pastoralists as they removed native woody plants now listed as INS.
Thirty-five years on, he said scientific research had changed his mind.
David Elridge says more research has changed his mind on native woody plants. (Supplied: David Eldridge)
Professor Eldridge said the INS term emerged from an early 2000s taskforce of former CSIRO staff, the former Department of Land and Water Conservation, and the Central West Catchment Management Authority, “but it wasn’t always backed by best available science”.
“A lot of this was driven not by science but by the needs of [land] managers … with strong input from pastoralists or graziers that wanted to get rid of these plants,” he said.
“The term ‘invasive native species’ is meant to conjure up images of a threatening, nasty wasteland that we need to somehow improve … but in fact, it’s become a backdoor method for broadscale clearing, as far as I’m concerned.”
There has been broadscale clearing along the Mitchell Highway in north-west NSW. (Supplied: Nature Conservation Council)
Professor Eldridge said research had shown the woody thickening was largely driven by historic overgrazing and reductions in natural fires, while rising atmospheric carbon dioxide was giving woody plants a competitive edge over grasses.
He said broadscale clearing methods had also driven biodiversity losses, despite provisions such as retaining trees with trunks over a certain diameter.
“You end up with an open paddock landscape with a few scattered big trees,” he said.
The pink cockatoo relies on hollow-bearing native trees that can take hundreds of years to form. (Supplied: DH Fisher)
The NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water has pledged to make amendments to the Land Management Code 2018, but has not identified what those would entail.
A department spokesperson said in a statement that the government had commissioned the Natural Resources Commission to advise on native vegetation management, which included an expert panel on the code’s INS provisions.
“This advice will enhance value and support for landholders and help shape reforms,” the spokesperson said.