Committee Secretary, Senate Standing Committees on Environment and Communications PO Box 6100, Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600, [email protected]

SUBMISSION: ’s faunal extinction crisis, Sarah Gunn, architect, September 2018 Dear Committee members, The need to improve our record of losing species to extinction has been urgent for some time, and this inquiry is an initiative in the right direction. Opportunities to protect fauna species have been lost in the recent past through conflicts of interest, or failure to act on expert ecological advice in a timely manner. My submission is prompted by evidence of severe environmental degradation right across Australia. As an architect and furniture designer, my concern for our depleted began with a preference for using natural timber, and on the realisation that a large proportion of our listed trade timbers in Australia are not in fact readily available for purchase. The need to source materials sustainably has made me very aware of how the natural industries in Australia are failing to protect our valuable environmental heritage. I appreciate the opportunity to comment on this very important matter. Ongoing decline in population & conservation status of Australia's nearly 500 threatened fauna spp. In seeking out data on forgotten timber trees, I have repeatedly come across examples of fragmented isolated by widespread areas of degraded . If it were not for the ongoing dedication of botanists, field naturalists and conservation volunteers, the situation would be far worse. Documented locations where vulnerable or endangered species occur can be observed online with mapped aerial views, and it is easy to see how small the fragmented green refuges have become, stranded far apart from each other. These patches containing scarce species represent biological diversity, our gene pool for the future, but on the whole they are not being well managed. A case in point is a timber called bollywood (Litsea reticulata) documented as growing from near Cairns to the Illawarra. Further north its ecological niche is occupied by other Litsea species. Bollywood shows up as available in a search for flooring, as Litsea reticulata, so it would appear to be the Australian species, except for one thing: it is listed on the supplier's website as an imported timber. It is not easy to track where this is coming from, but I suspect it is a similar species from West Papua. If our building industry were made to rely entirely on ecologically sustainable Australian timber sources, the industry would suffer its own extinction crisis of sorts, much of it would shut down from lack of compliant material. We see lobby groups such as "Doctors for Forests", "Lawyers for Forests", and for a while we had "Liberals for Forests", but there is no sign of similar groups for architects, engineers or builders. The nature of the construction business is compromised by the timber supply dilemma. Introduced pine plantations send exotic invasive species into our landscapes (Pinus elliotti, P. radiata and P. taeda), you only have to travel by road or by train through the countryside to see infestations, and they are fire-prone. The Canberra bushfire of 2003 swept through 2 pine plantations on its path towards the city, resulting in a fire tornado. This is the kind of worst case scenario that could happen again. The status of Tasmanian Oak or Victorian Ash is compromised while more than 70% of logs from the Ash forests are undervalued and downgraded to pulplogs to meet log supply quotas for paper. In our wet eucalypt forests, rainforest patches too small to qualify for protection are routinely trashed. The estimated sustained yield in Victorian Ash forests is down to 132,000 cu.m. per annum of D+ Ash saw- logs (VicForests Submission 30 May 2017 to Parliamentary Inquiry into VicForests' Operations), but the commitment to Australian Paper (Japan) is 300,000 cu.m. per annum from this type (Forests (Wood Pulp Agreement) Act 1996). In other words, more than twice the log volume will go to paper than to timber, regardless of the quality of the trees logged. VicForests and Australian Paper have both tried and failed to achieve the lowest level of certification from the Forest Stewardship Council (Controlled Wood), the reason for rejection being that they are sourcing logs from high conservation value forests. Agricultural management is not benign either. In some areas of ecological importance, such as natural springs in northern Australia, rainforest or vine forest gets trampled by cattle, so young cannot establish. These plants provide for many fauna species, necessary for a healthy environment, but it is only where they are visited by larger numbers of people, like tucker plants of the Dampier Peninsula Monsoon Vine Thickets, that these species are properly appreciated. Threatened species are the timid ones, they shy away from human settlements, often being specialists in the food they choose to eat. The importance of eliminating introduced hoofed browsing animals from areas of high conservation value must be considered as a matter of priority. Across Australia, a network of bush corridors through farmland and other land tenures is essential to create a healthy environment. The idea of having interstate roads and rail services is never questioned, yet the same consideration needs to be given to the passage of native species through the , as a planning priority.

Wider ecological impact of faunal extinction Like the canary in a cage being taken into a coal-mine, our threatened species are an indicator of a much bigger problem. In Australian wet sclerophyll forests we have some of the tallest trees in the world, their depletion measured by volume is far more drastic than by area. Mountain Ash and Alpine Ash forests of south-eastern Australia have been protected over the millennia by a moist rainforest understorey, but as these areas are eroded by continuing logging, they fail to provide the necessary refuges against the impact of global warming. These forests, which can take an estimated minimum of 400 years to regain their original species , offer us a phenomenal volume of carbon storage, both above and below ground, and as such they represent the lungs of the world. It is shameful that the majority of production logs coming out of such forests goes to paper production, showing a failure of government to responsibly weigh up Australia's future priorities. That these areas are burnt in the aftermath of logging further diminishes carbon storage, and shows a disregard for ecological values. The burning kills the remaining living creatures within the area and exposes in the vicinity to smoke pollution and habitat destruction, while further eliminating any browsing food plants. In short, it is an industrial activity that should be deemed unacceptable. Ecological impacts hold less sway than social impacts, yet the two are interconnected, and not just by the triple bottom line. Australia likes to be portrayed as a progressive, civilised country, but we are moving towards an ineffectual regime suffering from croneyism if the current trends continue. We can only cringe in shame

2 when our government is unable to control unauthorised damage to our natural environment. News footage of damage to the Barrier Reef, drying of river systems from inability to limit quotas, bulldozers clearing land with chains, and interests being given free rein, all this paints a picture that makes us look like a tin-pot republic. Just within the last fortnight, the Melbourne Magistrates Court dismissed a Victorian Department of Environment, Land, and Planning (DELWP) case against VicForests because of departmental incompetence: charges were not properly filed (ABC: Robert French 31 August 2018, 's environment minister demands explanation after logging charges thrown out of court). This case was following up only one of many examples where VicForests allegedly breached the forest code of practice. It is deplorable that conservation volunteers do the monitoring work that is the responsibility of government. Currently the logging industry cannot show themselves to be ecologically sustainable, so they should be sent packing, out of our native forest. International and domestic obligations of Commonwealth Government to conserve threatened fauna While a number of international agreements are concerned with migratory bird habitats, the faunal species endemic to Australia are unique, but have been overrun by too many feral invaders. Long entrenched attitudes hold the idea that some species are cute and in need of protection, while others can be exploited (eg. trade in koala pelts, exported as wombat , Townsville Daily Bulletin, 15 Jul 1926, Australian Skins: Koala Sold as Wombat ) or allowed to become casualties of other exploitation, as when conserving greater gliders is a lower priority than log supply (ABC: Michael Slezak 29 July 2018, VicForests says experiment 'very likely' to kill threatened glider, continues research ). The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) is made ineffectual by the Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) and their exemptions from the EPBC Act in native forests. This is counter-productive, and burning logged areas adds further risk of extinctions, eliminating all across hectares of forest land. If an adequate inventory could be done of the amount of biomass destroyed in this way, it would be seen as a scandalous waste. Australians and visitors alike are unappreciative of many of our threatened species, as these are of course uncommon in the cities where most of us live. It has not been not part of mainstream education to raise awareness of natural environments. Instead, it is a dedicated few who volunteer to eradicate weeds so native ecosystems can recover, or join in citizen science activities to witness the impacts of logging, and assist conservation volunteers working on reports to the government in the hope of saving some of the threatened species affected. This form of action to save threatened species, through report writing, is thankfully available to members of the public, but it shows the failure of government. Environment laws, EPBC Act: sufficient protection for threatened fauna - key threatening processes? Either Commonwealth environment laws are inadequate, providing sufficient protections for threatened fauna and against key threatening processes, or they are not adequately enforced. The government does not need submissions to this inquiry to establish that. Creation of renewed links is needed between patches of remnant vegetation, to counteract relentless clearing, whether for agriculture and mining, urban growth, or the result of logging. Our culture of resource exploitation, a throwback to colonial settlement, has not gone away. The colonial plunder continues, as if we were all intending to retire back in England with our lucky strike from the gold-rush. While many admirable policies have been formulated, these reach a stumbling block and falter when authorities fail to confront the immediacy of the problem. As an example, feral cats are an acknowledged problem, but cats continue to thrive in the suburbs, and unwanted animals still get dumped in the bush. While dogs are excluded from many national parks, dog ownership is common on private land around their perimeters. Limits to prevent dog and cat ownership under planning schemes can be met with opposition, but this policy should be adopted as a matter of course in many locations, as urban growth spreads. Trapping feral cats is costly, and it is more effective to control domestic cats in the first place. The EPBC Act has been challenged in court, and is being challenged again. A Federal Court case: Friends Of Leadbeater's Possum Inc v VicForests saw the Commonwealth govenment being represented as an intervener. When the Wielangta trial in had its verdict overturned on appeal, the EPBC Act were ineffective. This conflict between the opposing legislative instruments, the RFAs and the EPBC Act, could have been ended by the Commonwealth taking a firm stand to stop logging in high conservation 3 value native forests on the expiry of the RFAs. But no, instead the wheels are in motion to renew them, starting with extending them in Victoria, then committing to another 20 years in Tasmania. The planting of exotic pine plantations began as a compromise, and it is time they were phased out. As documented in Queensland, the initial logging and clearing of native timber trees to open up farmland generated excessive waste. The Forestry Branch of the Department was unable to reserve the best forest areas for timber production, so forest reservation was on land with no other use, since the government favoured settlement over reserves for production forestry. In 1924 it was estimated that, at the rate hoop, bunya and kauri forests were being logged, the native softwood resource would be exhausted by 1938 (Queensland Department of Natural 1998, SE2.5 Wood and Wood Products Industry Background and Situation Analysis Final Report, for Steering Committee, Comprehensive Regional Assessment (CRA) of forests, SE Queensland CRA region, for Regional Forest Agreement (RFA), Queensland Government & Commonwealth of Australia, www.agriculture.gov.au/ SiteCollectionDocuments/rfa/regions/qld-south-east/resources/qld_se_se25.pdf ). It was decided to establish hoop pine plantations to make up the shortfall, but the low value plantation sites were unsuitable. Introduced pines were trialled successfully, replacing coastal tea tree heath (wallum flats) between Brisbane and Coolum, and knowledge from plantation forestry in other countries was applied. Large areas of native forest were displaced. A royal commission in 1930-31 dismissed a submission for reserving north Queensland forest for cabinet timber production, because: "The productive wealth of the country at present suffers from the fact that there are too many rather than too few trees" (Cited in the above from LT Carron 1985, A History of Forestry in Australia). We now have a situation where the short-term fix of planting monocultures of pine is escalating into an ecological nightmare, land that supported native wildlife replaced with a fire-prone weed tree. While we need to preserving our remaining intact native forest, this must be balanced by a more viable plantation industry, while we phase out the pines that can only prolong the extinction crisis. New plantations can be designed with appropriate native timber species, not species that degrade natural environments. Adequacy and effectiveness of protections: critical habitat, for threatened fauna under the EPBC Act More than 20 years ago, I contributed to printed editions of the Good Wood Guide, in Victoria and NSW. It was already difficult to source most varieties of native timber other than eucalypts, and problems with the management of native forests for eucalypt timber production were well known. In spite of this, the Government proceeded to commit to legislation for the RFAs, and concerns about ecological impacts of industrial forestry were lifted from the hands the logging industry, if they complied, broadly, with the Agreements. Lesser known timber species are not valued in current industrial forestry, nor are the vegetation communities where they grow, which in many cases is also habitat to threatened fauna species. Policies have a tendency towards protection of high conservation value habitat, but only as token areas to fixed quotas, and disregard degraded areas or depauperate patches that have been reduced in size. If a rainforest patch is below the area limit, it can be logged. Policies to protect smaller patches, to link them to each other via linear reserves, and to restore degraded vegetation, would enable regeneration of late successional species across a broader area. National Reserve System, stewardship, covenants and connectivity through wildlife corridors Regeneration of late successional species in degraded areas is frustrated by the demands of logging and farming interests, seldom if ever blocked under the business-as-usual incentives of the economy. Logging interests encroach on the perimeter of the Errinundra National Park (Vic.). A drive through the Errinundra Plateau necessitates confrontation with recently clear-felled forests. The park links up a set of high conservation value areas, but there are only narrow fingers of connectivity, and the continued perimeter clearing subjects national park habitat to feral predators, weed growth and fire risk. Traditional knowledge & management for threatened spp. recovery & other conservation outcomes Let us acknowledge with a treaty that his land was never surrendered. The future of Aboriginal requires due recognition of connection to country, and the re-emergence of a sovereign people, so that traditional owners can be at the table where decisions are made, and decisions are made with respect for culture. Token employment under an insensitive bureaucracy is of little help. The extinction crisis results from a problem that is broader than threatened species. 4 It involves many native species that formerly provided food, both to people and to native animals. Controlled by a majority of new-chums, bringing imported food crops and preferred tree species, Australian culture has been slow to listen to the voices of those who have been here since the dreamtime. is so little understood by mainstream Australians that it often goes unrecognised, or may even be scorned. Only the , developed commercially in Hawaii, is readily available as a consumer food. Traditional management entails more than burning, and even burning required the knowledge of elders to ensure that significant bush tucker plants remain unburnt. Wild creatures need food as much as people, but the bush tucker plants eaten by sheep and cattle have not been restored, the food trees logged for timber have not been regenerated, and our Aboriginal elders have been so severed from their land that they too are piecing past connections together from stories told to them in their youth by aunties and uncles. Funding streams: implementing threatened species recovery plans & preventing fauna loss Existing project funding is directed towards some important specific goals. However, these goals are not necessarily shared by farmers, as land clearing is still going on (Sydney Morning Herald: Peter Hannam 7 September 2018, 'Revved up': Land being cleared at the rate of 14 football fields a day in northern NSW). Nor are they shared by commercial interests generating and consuming paper from native forest logging. Government funding in the past went towards the establishment of an exotic plantation pine industry. Future funding needs to change the emphasis towards restoration of less fire-prone native vegetation, to create bush corridor links along our rivers and creeks, where land has been cleared. The immediacy of the extinction crisis needs to reach a higher level of public awareness. The problem cannot be explained away as a relic of the past, with the loss of the thylacine in the 1930s. It is costly trying to bring back species from a critically endangered level, and when it comes too late, it is money thrown at a lost cause. Government money is spent in court, defending policy against volunteers trying to save native habitat areas from destruction. Surely it is better to spend money replanting habitat areas, and reclaiming farmland for timber production where high value timbers grew in the past, so that high conservation value native vegetation can be protected. If recovery plans are not put in place quickly enough, because of inadequate funding, species numbers can decline while we wait. Existing monitoring practices for the threatened fauna assessment & responses The reliance of government on the efforts of conservation volunteers to alert the authorities, on finding threatened species in scheduled logging coupes, is an indication that existing monitoring practices are inadequate, and not fully incorporated into management. It should not be left to unpaid members of the public to carry out citizen science, doing assessments that are the responsibility of a government department, and raising the alarm when it is often too late. This is the province of government, so why is this the way things must be done? Are government policies purposely stuck in the denial mentality of business-as-usual? Is this how votes are won? Or can it change? Adequacy of existing assessment processes for identifying threatened fauna conservation status With the benefit of hindsight, the thylacine would perhaps have survived. But that is not the path we took as a nation. How can we know if assessment measures are adequate, before there are outcomes? In the words of JP Hartley, "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there" (Hartley 1953, The Go-Between). In a land settled as a foreign country, society remains reluctant to let go of misplaced justifications intent on making past destruction seem acceptable. In the principles of ecologically sustainable development, we have a mandate not to accept as normal (and therefore acceptable). Already we are a generation that has not received inter-generational justice. Where once there were landscapes of regional importance: rainforest, brigalow or wodjil scrub, now there are wheat-fields, sugarcane, and hoofed animals. And in many instances, wastelands of fire-prone vegetation, burnt too often to support the vegetation that once grew there. The dream of colonisation was supported by stories of achievement, of taming a hostile land. Unfortunately, the undercurrents of that dream involved alienation of Aboriginal society and habitat loss leading to extinctions. Assessment processes are not adequate, while authorities lag behind public expectations, and we rely on volunteers to challenge the government before due process is followed. 5 C, : FAUNA SPECIES IN AUSTRALI A

PEOPLE WHO ALL OTHER SPECIES BELIEVE IN OFFAUNA CLIM ATE CHANGE NON-HUMAN INTRODUCED SPECIES, INCLUDING SHEEP, CATILE, CATS, DOGS, RABBITS, FO XES & CANE TOADS

PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE IN EVOLUTION Regardless of our ~ ILD individual beliefs, PRED ATORS, the evidence is clear: INCLUDING OWLS, We know about the key OUOLLS, EAGLES, threatening processes. ------~KES But we need some oolitical strength to THREATENED FAUNA SPECIES~- ) end those threats, ( ' and reduce our cultural ,/ _,,,,,,,,.,--·~ alienation from nature. --·------~ ~ ------2018 Adequacy of existing compliance mechanisms for enforcing Commonwealth environment law In the above diagram, the weakest link is political will. Existing compliance mechanisms may be nominally in place, but there are numerous gaps where failure can occur. Ministerial discretion over­ rides science, threatened species surveys are done when conditions are not con ducive to finding them, degradation of the landscape, or a fallen tree, can bring high conservation value vegetation below a legislated threshold of measurement, say a hectare, losing its right to protection. Bureaucratic processes may be set up with conflicting priorities, so their main purpose is to approve vegetation removal for development to proceed, and time delays can be critical. The result is that environmental law ends up being enforced in the courts, or inadequately settled out of court. Court processes are expensive, so legal aid should be available for groups or individuals w ho challenge environmental degradation. Related matters It is not enough to require that all domestic cats are kept in 24 hour containment, desexed, microchipped and well-fed, because cat-owners will not consistently meet such standards. The humane treatment of domestic or farm animals h as become an expectation over the past 50 years or so, but does not extend to native animals. Kept animals are not always kept humanely, and improved limits should be set on factory farms, but equally, native animals cannot survive when the land where they live is mercilessly cleared, and they compete for food with farm animals fed on supplementary fodder. It is not enough to put limits on land clearing, which are rarely enforced. In urban areas, coun cils also need to promote n ative vegetation along roadsides. When minimum limits are set for retained or rehabilitated native vegetation, other areas can be planted w ith exotic vegetation, over and above the limit. It is not difficult to find volunteers for re-planting projects in urban areas. A network of bush corridors should be incorporated into planning law, to retain native vegetation or to re-vegetate a given proportion of land area. The area of retained n ative vegetation (set at 5% or some another figure) can be determined on a regional basis. The onus must be on farm managers to ensure native vegetation cover, as is done with mine rehabilitation. This would be a disincentive to stop land being cleared hurriedly just in case new legislation comes in to stop clearing. The task of restoration needs to be shared by all land managers, so there is no benefit in continuing land degradation. Yours sincerely, Sarah Gmm,

6