<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>336701</docID> <postdate>2025-01-21 09:48:03</postdate> <headline>Koala ‘biggest loser’ of federal land-clearing consents</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-336702" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/land-clearing.-koalas-e1737413163494.jpeg" alt="" width="902" height="600" /></p> <caption>The koala lost more habitat than any other vulnerable species to federally approved land-clearing. Photo: WWF Australia</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Poppy Johnston</strong> in Canberra</span></p> <p><strong>Twice as much bushland home to threatened species was rubber-stamped for land-clearing by the federal government in 2024 compared with the  previous year, environmental group analysis finds.</strong></p> <p>The koala lost more of its habitat to mining, infrastructure and other projects approved under commonwealth nature laws than any other vulnerable species.</p> <p>The Australian Conservation Foundation research found more than 25,000 hectares - equivalent to roughly 92 Sydney CBDs - of threatened species habitat got the go-ahead for land-clearing last year.</p> <p>That was more than double the 10,400 hectares approved under Australia's national nature laws in the 12 months prior.</p> <p>A total of 2245 Australian plants, animals and ecosystems are threatened with extinction at present.</p> <p>ACF nature campaigner Darcie Carruthers said the 2024 count included 3000 hectares of koala habitat, making the iconic marsupial the "biggest loser" of federally approved land-clearing in the past 12 months.</p> <p>"This is shocking, because the koala is nationally recognised as an endangered species," she told AAP.</p> <p>In addition, 1000 hectares of the preferred woodland habitat of the critically endangered regent honeyeater was set to be bulldozed.</p> <p>There are only a few hundred of the birds left in the wild.</p> <p>"Our nature laws should be there to protect it, but what they're actually doing is facilitating the destruction of its habitat," Ms Carruthers said.</p> <p>Projects must be approved under national environmental law if they are deemed likely to threaten an endangered species or impact other matters of "national environmental significance".</p> <p>The Labor government has promised to overhaul the way the country manages environmentally risky development, including setting up a watchdog to assess applications independently and act as a cop on the beat.</p> <p>Ms Carruthers said an environmental protection watchdog would not only ensure development applications are assessed independently of vested interests, but would also be able to crack down on illegal land-clearing - responsible for the vast majority of habitat destruction.</p> <p>Labor's "nature positive" bills have struggled to attract the support needed to pass parliament, though the prime minister was believed to have intervened to kill a deal brokered between the Greens and the environment minister late last year.</p> <p>Ms Carruthers urged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to "step up for nature" and deliver on his government's promise to reform nature laws.</p> <p>Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said Labor was doing "more than ever" to better protect nature after a decade of neglect under the former coalition government.</p> <p>"We've protected an extra 70 million hectares of Australia's ocean and bush - an area bigger than Germany and Italy combined," she said in a statement.</p> <p>Greens environment spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young said it was time to end native forest logging and put a moratorium on the destruction of critical habitat.</p> <p>"These numbers don't lie: huge-scale habitat destruction is killing our koala, trashing our environment - and it's getting worse."</p> </body>