What climate pollution?
The UN to ensure Australian compliance with international law
The right to a healthy environment as mandated by international law

"A UN special rapporteur has intervened in Australia's decision to extend Woodside's North West Shelf gas project by another 40 years. Australia did not adequately consider the climate impacts of extending its largest gas project, an independent United Nations expert has told the Federal Court."

"We are living a triple planetary crisis, not only climate change, but also biodiversity loss and toxic pollution...The project's emissions — the third-highest in Australia — were likely causing irreversible damage to the World Heritage site, Murujuga, home to some of the world's oldest known rock carvings."

"As recently as last month, Australia was one of 141 countries to endorse a landmark resolution by the International Court of Justice, which found that states had a legal imperative to consider climate in their environmental impact assessments." >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-04/un-special-rapporteur-woodside-north-west-shelf/106724220
#FossilFuels #climate #GHG #EPBCAct #UN #IndigenousPeoples #oilandGas #HumanRights #RockArt #FARA #biodiversity #environment #pollution #harm #burrup #Murujuga #law #RuleOfLaw

Australian environmental standards?

Australia’s old environment laws were a box‑ticking exercise. Sadly, the new ones could be too >>
https://theconversation.com/australias-old-environment-laws-were-a-box-ticking-exercise-sadly-the-new-ones-could-be-too-283069

"We're facing a deforestation crisis here in the Territory, with the bulldozers rolling in on the world's last intact tropical savanna, while the federal government looks away."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-28/claravale-land-clearing-judicial-review-environment-minister/106714566
#EPBCAct #biodiversity #conservation #BoxTicking #laws #WeakStandards #regulation #nature #offsets #extractivism #fastTack #deforestation #TropicalSavanna

Australia’s environmental degradation

"One must ask why the federal government is so comfortable continuing to ignore the wishes of most Australians, and continuing to condemn our life-sustaining environment and wildlife to profound decline and destruction?"

"Experts in biodiversity and environmental law have found major flaws in the draft national standard for matters of national environmental significance.’..Market-driven nature repair projects will not help address this deficit."

"It would be a betrayal of Australia’s most important public good to settle for the mere appearance of action – we deserve the promised serious investment in our collective future." >>
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/18/australias-green-wall-street-is-failing-to-launch-threatened-species-deserve-better-than-the-nature-repair-market
#biodiversity #ecosystems #wildlife #EPBCAct #FastTack #degradation #NatureMarkets #regulation #EnvironmentalNeglect #extractivism

National environmental standards ?

"Federal government accused of watering down proposal to protect Australia’s threatened species and ecosystems."

“There’s no requirement for these processes to actually deliver the outcomes and objectives expressed in the standard.”

"...Australia’s populations of threatened species had declined, on average, by 50% over the past two decades." >>
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/may/02/federal-government-accused-of-watering-down-proposal-to-protect-australias-threatened-species-and-ecosystems
#biodiversity #ecosystems #wildlife #EPBCAct #destruction #harm #extractivism #extinctions #StreamlineEnvironmentalApprovals #Australia

Reversing biodiversity decline through individual good will ?

“With a paucity of government support, philanthropy … has become an invaluable enabler for people dedicated to working for the environment.” >>

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/apr/18/privately-protected-managed-land-australia-biodiversity-protection

#biodiversity #conservation #ecosystems #wildlife #PrivateLandholders #extinction #governance #begging #EPBCact #ArbitraryAction

Platypus decline: First south-east Queensland, then northern Queensland

"In communities in south-east Queensland, we're certainly starting to hear that narrative that they're not seeing them...Dr Brunt said a comparison of historical records of platypus sightings with a recent survey of their populations in south-east Queensland had shown a marked decrease in numbers."

"It is not something she wants to see repeated in north Queensland, and Dr Brunt is part of a push to have platypuses recognised as "vulnerable" under the national Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act." >>

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-15/platypus-marian-vulnerable-conservation-register/106562272
#Platypus #Biodiversity #EPBCAct #sprawl #suburbia #HabitatDestruction #extinction

Farmer "preferred profit and commercial interest over the environment."

The owner of Treetops Estate Pty Ltd has been fined $84,000 for illegal land clearing — much less than the $2.2 million it would have cost him if he had obtained a permit for the work. The farmer was convicted over clearing 112 hectares of bushland.

"The clearing significantly reduced high-value remnant vegetation and the habitat of 18 species of native birds, including three of conservational significance: peregrine falcon, purple-gaped honeyeater and black-chinned honeyeater." >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-09/farm-owner-convicted-over-land-clearing-fine-less-than-permit/106543362
#biodiversity #LandClearing #deforestation #farming #crime #CostOfDoingBusiness #extinction #birds #EPBCact

Automating rapid environment assessments for extractions could ultimately push Australian flora and fauna closer to extinction.

Using AI to prepare and evaluate environmental assessments risks ‘robodebt-style’ failures, scientists say >>
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/06/ai-environmental-assessments-robodebt-style-failures
#biodiversity #EPBCAct #conservation #ecosystems #extraction #mining #Robodebt #AI #governance #speed #EcologySlop

Koala habitat logged by farmers. Will they be charged under the new environment laws?

"Carte blanche" for bulldozing endangered ecosystems?

"The Australian Conservation Foundation has identified a dozen cases of land clearing since December that should have sought environmental approval."

"The ACF has found, via satellite imagery, a dozen cases in Queensland and NSW of old bushland containing endangered habitats being cleared without any of the necessary referrals for approval."

"The maximum penalty for breaches of the EPBC Act is up to $1.565 million for individuals and up to $15.65 million for corporate breaches." >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-19/epbc-land-clearing-koala-unaware-farmers/106452434
#biodiversity #EPBCAct #LandClearing #farmers #koalas #NativeVegetation #law #EndangeredEcosystems #NSW

The government's spending on harming nature

"For the first time, research published this year, identified 36 federal subsidies worth $26.3 billion annually that are potentially harmful to biodiversity. Fossil fuel subsidies alone account for $14.1 billion. It is extraordinary the Australian Government believes it can exclude fossil fuel subsidies on the basis of a technicality. Meanwhile, independent estimates place federal biodiversity conservation spending at below $1 billion annually. "

"The arithmetic is stark: the government spent more than $26 billion a year on harming nature, less than $1 billion conserving it. No government serious about halting biodiversity loss would preside over such an imbalance and say they were “on track”. >>
https://theconversation.com/australia-claims-it-is-on-track-to-save-nature-we-disagree-278081

Biodiversity-harmful subsidies in Australia
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14486563.2026.2623910
#FossilFuels #FossilFuelsSubsidies #biodiversity #harm #conservation #KMGBF #restoration #NoTake #fishing #ThreatenedSpecies #Australia #MarineLife #degradation #EPBCAct #war #climate #pollution #governance #values