Think Australia's bushfires killed a lot of animals? Weak environmental laws threaten the lives of more

In a previous life, I obtained an environmental science degree and worked as a fauna ecologist for an environmental consultancy.

Koalas are predicted to be extinct across New South Wales
and Queensland by 2050 according to conservation groups.

On an environmental impact study (EIS) in the rocky jump-up country out of Winton a few years ago, my colleagues and I recorded a healthy population of rock wallabies living in the caves and cliffs where a proposed coal mine was to be built.

Despite being listed as vulnerable under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, the presence of the animals wasn't a barrier to the project going ahead.

The developers' planned to catch and remove the wallabies they could, and those they couldn't catch were going to be fenced inside the tailings dam where they would most likely die.

This wasn't an unusual scenario.

Every EIS I worked on — for coal, coal-seam gas, gas refinery, bauxite, housing estates, and airport expansion projects — during a three-and-a-bit year period found species listed as vulnerable or endangered.

Read the ABC News story by Nick Kilvert - “Think Australia's bushfires killed a lot of animals? Weak environmental laws threaten the lives of more.”

Summit statement about Australia's preparedness for extreme heat

Dr Elizabeth Hanna - helped
report on Australia's
preparedness for increasing
extreme heat.

For the last two days, twenty-four experts representing a wide variety of disciplines including emergency management and medicine, nursing and midwifery, workplace health, health policy, community services, planning and the built environment, environmental science, and physiology, came together to discuss how to improve Australia’s preparedness for increasing extreme heat.

All the experts agreed that extreme heat is a critical and growing health issue for Australians. While the health sector is key, it is only one part of the response.

Read the Climate Council report - “Statement from the Australian Summit on Extreme Heat and Health.”