WA’s Biodiversity Conservation Act – Where Is It?

Media Release, 9 November 2007

“It is unbelievable that the Government is congratulating itself on its biodiversity conservation initiatives when, after seven years of promises, it is still dragging its heels on introducing the long-awaited Biodiversity Conservation Act”, said Greens MLC Giz Watson.

Environment Minister David Templeman released a statement yesterday that showed ways the Government’s $15million ‘Saving our Species’ initiative was delivering worthwhile benefits to the state.

“While ‘worthwhile’, legislative change is long overdue,” said Ms Watson.

“The latest State of the Environment Report paints a grim picture, and shows much of our state’s biodiversity is in dire straits.”

The EPA’s State of the Environment Report 2007 finds that WA currently has 362 threatened plants, 199 threatened animals, and 69 threatened ecological communities. Recovery plans have only been developed for less than one-third of these threatened species and ecological communities.

“In 1999, the then Minister for the Environment promised a Biodiversity and Conservation Bill that would be ready in 2000,” said Ms Watson.

“It is now 2007, and despite years of repeated questioning, the Government has continued to stall on this crucial legislation.”