Skip navigation

Greater Glider uplisted to endangered status just 6 years after it was declared as vulnerable

profile image
Sue Higginson
NSW Greens MP
12 October 2022

The federal Environment Minister has today listed the Greater Glider as endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act just 6 years after it was first listed as vulnerable. The Greater Glider announcement follows the uplisting of the Koala from vulnerable to endangered in February of this year and is an indication of the precarious state that Australian wildlife are in following decades of habitat destruction and compounded by the 2019/20 bushfires.

The federal Environment Minister has today listed the Greater Glider as endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act just 6 years after it was first listed as vulnerable. The Greater Glider announcement follows the uplisting of the Koala from vulnerable to endangered in February of this year and is an indication of the precarious state that Australian wildlife are in following decades of habitat destruction and compounded by the 2019/20 bushfires.

 

NSW Greens MP Sue Higginson and spokesperson for the environment said “Today’s announcement is a warning siren for the NSW Government that iconic and ecologically vital animal species are on the verge of extinction following years of logging, land clearing, predation by feral species and of course the catastrophic bushfires,”

 

“In NSW alone, annual land clearing rates are up 47% since the Coalition Government announced new land clearing codes in 2017 that equates to a shocking 224,700 hectares of woody vegetation being cleared. On agricultural lands, 52% of this woody vegetation clearing is classified as unexplained and shows that habitat loss is not being regulated by this Government,”

 

“The situation in our public state forests is even more dire where requirements for the retention of hollow bearing trees, the vital homes for the nocturnal Greater Glider, cannot be met because there are not enough hollow bearing trees in many areas slated for industrial scale logging operations,”

 

“Last year the Natural Resources Commission recommended to the Government that logging operations in burnt forests be changed to retain more hollow bearing trees and other large trees that would likely form hollows to replace older habitat trees. The Government has now sat on that report for almost a year without publicly releasing it or acting on the recommendations,”

 

“Koalas and Greater Gliders both rely on mature trees and abundant sources of eucalypt leaves for food, Koalas and Greater Gliders have been pushed to the brink of extinction through logging and land clearing,”

 

“The NSW Government should act immediately to transition out of native forest logging and fix the unexplained land clearing in NSW to ensure that our unique and iconic species are saved from extinction, we are in an extinction crisis and we need to respond accordingly” Ms Higginson said.

profile image
Sue Higginson
NSW Greens MP
12 October 2022
SHARE:

THE LATEST NEWS

No Positive Plan for Nature - NSW Extinction Crisis will continue under Labor

The Government has finally released its long awaited and highly anticipated response to the Ken Henry Review - the five year statutory review into the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016, tabled in August 2023.  The Henry Review final report provided damning insight into how current policy settings are accelerating species...

Damning interim-report into out-of-home care says nothing we didn’t already know

A damning interim-report from the Advocate for Children and Young People has laid bare - yet again - the extraordinary failures of the out-of-home care system in New South Wales.

Special delivery of Deputy State Coroner’s chilling findings to Minister for Police sound alarm bell for dire state of policing failure

5 April 2024 - This week the Coroners Court of New South Wales released its findings from the inquest into the death of Todd Mckenzie. Mr McKenzie was shot three times by police and died in his Taree home after experiencing a schizophrenic episode. The findings of the coronial report were...

NRL mentors announced in Government's “Project Pathfinder” PR stunt will not help divert kids from crime in regional areas

4 April 2024 - A new pilot program between the NSW Police Force and the National Ruby League (NRL) is being rolled out in Moree to tackle youth crime. The project was announced just weeks after the Minns Government’s controversial youth bail laws were passed in Parliament, making it harder for...


CAMPAIGNS