With 50% of species in NSW not expected to survive in the next 100 years; land clearing increasing since 2017; and only 29% of habitat remaining - the NSW Government should be taking urgent action. The release of the government’s 2024 NSW Biodiversity Outlook Report is one big alarm bell, both environmentally and politically. "The last thing the Minns government should find itself with at the next election is a record of more clearing of native vegetation and more species sliding to extinction.  This is a fundamental challenge they must not avoid,” said Jeff Angel, Director of the TEC.

Notably, land clearing has increased since the 2009-2017 period, coinciding with the relaxation of laws by the previous government. This is what the Minns government inherited, and it needs to act swiftly to fix the laws to prevent more clearing, as it promised at the election.

The Biodiversity Outlook Report is independent and peer reviewed, but because it is currently just a consideration in land use decisions, it won’t have any impact on lessening the calamitous decline in our environment. The only way to improve the situation is to give it legal force to prevent development decisions like land clearing. "That means the Minns Government should act now,” Mr Angel said.

Contact the NSW Premier here.