'Preferred profit ... over the environment': Farm owner fined for clearing 112 hectares of bushland
By Eugene Boisvert

The owner of a farm in South Australia's south-east is convicted and fined for clearing 112 hectares of bushland, but the penalty is much less than the $2.2 million he would have had to pay for a permit for the work.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-09/farm-owner-convicted-over-land-clearing-fine-less-than-permit/106543362

#LandClearing #LivestockFarming #Birds #Courts #EugeneBoisvert

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

Dreamworld Gold Coast
without the koalas

Koala habitats would be impacted under the proposal to expand Dreamworld.

Coomera resident "said he could hardly believe it was the same suburb where he once saw koalas in the trees. "It's all gone...It's just wall-to-wall suburban development."

"Dr O'Hare said instead of clearing vegetation and koala habitat for the project, developers should use 7 hectares of land occupied by a car park." >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-07/dreamworld-expansion-considered-concern-traffic-gridlock/106469590
#biodiversity #koalas #sprawl #Cars #traffic #CarDependence #CarParks #Coomera #LandClearing

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

Australian wildlife in ‘harm’s way’, with volunteers left to ‘pick up the pieces’ amid climate crisis, fires and floods

"Last financial year, volunteers responded to more than 320,000 calls for help for sick, injured or orphaned wildlife. Nearly 130,000 rescue operations were conducted and vets assessed 51,000 injured animals."

"The soaring demand is being driven by climate change and habitat destruction."

“As a consequence of these pressures, more and more animals are getting in harm’s way. When they get in harm’s way, governments take very little interest. So it is left to volunteers to pick up the pieces and get those animals back into the wild. Currently responsibility for injured animals falls on the community."

"We need a national approach.”
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/03/australian-wildlife-in-harms-way-with-volunteers-left-to-pick-up-the-pieces-amid-climate-crisis-fires-and-floods
#biodiversity #wildlife #conservation #EPBCAct #volunteers #FossilFuels #sprawl #roads #LandClearing #climate #governance

#Australian #wildlife in ‘harm’s way’, with volunteers left to ‘pick up the pieces’ amid #ClimateCrisis, fires and floods https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/03/australian-wildlife-in-harms-way-with-volunteers-left-to-pick-up-the-pieces-amid-climate-crisis-fires-and-floods

#GlobalWarming #AusPol #Conservation #Government #LandClearing #Logging

Bulldozing Australia’s great tropical savanna
"One of the largest intact and biodiverse savanna ecosystems left on Earth”.

"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."
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/feb/24/federal-green-light-bulldoze-tropical-savanna-northern-territory-threatened-species
#biodiversity #cotton #monoculture #ThreatenedSpecies #EPBCAct #LandClearing #NationalInterest #exemptions #laws #Australia #extractivism #water

Image: The Gouldian finch (Erythrura gouldiae)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gouldian_Finch_(8952067299).jpg