Federal threatened species Act ineffective
The Federal Environment Protection Biodiversity and Conservation Act is a waste of money, according to researchers at the Australia Institute. The Act is designed to protect threatened species and world heritage areas that may not be covered by state environment laws. The Institute’s deputy director, Andrew Macintosh, says only four out of 1,900 developments have been blocked in six years of operation. So $15 – $30 million a year is spent on a law that isn’t improving anything.
The Howard Government is doing virtually nothing to improve non-compliance with the law. In the vast majority of cases, the Minister is green-lighting developments and other impacts with very few appropriate conditions placed on them.
In the case of uranium mining and nuclear waste, the Government has simply overridden the environment act.
ABC radio via Wildlife Bytes 31.7.06