The law created to protect the Australian environment is known as the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act – quite a mouthful. It is usually referred to as the EPBC Act, and has just been reviewed for the second time since its passage twenty years ago.
Sadly, according to Professor Graeme Samuel, who reviewed and reported on the Act, it is not doing its job. Our beloved species and ecosystems are in decline, and the Act must be overhauled to make it effectively serve both the environment and Australian communities. Unique critters like the iconic koala, majestic red goshawk and charismatic greater glider have suffered huge losses of habitat and these losses are contributing significantly to population decline, threatening with extinction. These are just a few examples of how the act isn’t doing its job. Here are recommendations on how we can strengthen it so it protects nature and communities:
ACF Boroondara loves nature, and we want to see the act strengthened so that it can effectively protect our unique plants and animals. We encourage you to contact your federal and state members of parliament, to express your support for protecting the environment through the implementation of the final report recommendations. Our environmental laws need to be strong, consistent, and national, overseen by an independent regulator, and firmly enforced. Let’s get going, and contact our MPs and local councillors by email, letter and telephone, to let them know that we love our environment and our native creatures, and we really support an overhauled and effective EPBC Act.
Jean, on behalf of ACF Community Boroondara
ACF Community Boroondara is part of a network of independently organised, non-partisan, volunteer-run groups in the ACF community.
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