A coalition of NGOs has argued that every state and territory in Australia fails to implement environmental laws at the Commonwealth standards and address World Heritage Conventions, putting ecosystem and threatened species at risk.
The report `Assessment of the adequacy of threatened species & planning laws' has been released by the Places You Love Alliance, a coalition of 42 Australian NGOs. The organisations found that no state or territory law meets the requirements of federal threatened species protection. As well as this, threatened species lists are incomplete and no state legislation fully meets Commonwealth standards for biodiversity offsets. Furthermore, World Heritage Conventions are not adequately addressed and there are no laws to prevent harmful development or energy projects from being authorised, regardless of if they harm the environment, the report finds.