Cost of Australia's wildlife destruction immeasurable

Political ignorance toward the ongoing environmental destruction of our country is causing devastation that cannot be overestimated, writes Sue Arnold.

COST OF LIVING pressures are creating havoc for many Australians. Homelessness, shortages of food, together with little hope of finding any way out of the financial quagmire have resulted in countless numbers of people sleeping in cars, tents and caravans struggling to cope with life. Australia is no longer the “lucky country” for too many.

A similar situation is facing Australia’s wildlife except money won’t solve their cost-of-living pressures. No amount of dollars will replace their habitats or the ecosystems on which they depend for survival.

Day after day, tragic emails and reports pour into my office telling of increasing destruction in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. Emails detailing the refusals by governments and mainstream media to respond to the exponentially rising public outcry over what can only be described as a wipe-out of this country’s unique biodiversity.

The extent of despair cannot be overestimated.

NSW Government criminal policies ensuring koala extinction

Dire threats to koala survival in NSW are virtually guaranteeing the species extinction, all facilitated and approved by the Minns Government.

Animal suffering is a terrible thing to witness. This time of the year when many wildlife species are mating and replenishing their populations, they are facing no future. Animals with young, unable to provide protection, shelter or food are stressed, distraught and terrified. Koalas are suffering dreadful injuries after being run over by cars, trucks and buses, or knocked out of the trees by industrial logging. Huge bulldozers with machinery are ripping out trees, turning the once quiet forests into war zones. Except there are no medics.

Precious suburban habitats are being clear-felled for massive urbanisation projects. Too bad if they’re built on wildlife cemeteries.

Shelters are struggling to cope with injured wildlife, not only in a physical sense but also having to cope with so much sadness as many critters don’t make it. People from all walks of life are standing up for the forests — elderly women, retired folk, youngsters, university graduates, all willing to go to gaol rather than see defenceless creatures bulldozed into oblivion.

The Australian spirit is alive and well but increasingly confined to the political closet.

There’s growing rage accompanied by a feeling of helplessness as politicians from major parties refuse to listen to the tsunami of protests. When federal elections are held next May, the depth of disgust over the Albanese Government’s rejection of any adequate environmental policies will be visible.

Our governments don’t care. Nor does the Opposition. They remain silent witnesses to a holocaust being waged against nature driven by their policies of environmental irresponsibility. Their humanity is lost as wildlife becomes a removable barrier in the way of exponential growth.

Anthony Albanese has a dog called Toto. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Vice President, has a dog called Scout. In a recent YouTube video he was asked, “Has having Scout made you a better leader?” Walz replied, “Having a dog or a pet makes you a better human. He’s loyal, his unconditional love, that empathy you want to see in all leaders”.

Toto has obviously failed on this count.

Australia’s current crop of political leaders could do well to take a lesson from Walz. Instead of photos taken clutching koalas, a couple of days spent in shelters caring for seriously wounded wildlife, bringing them face to face with the impacts of their refusal to legislate protection would be more realistic.

Splitting wildlife from their habitats and ecosystems by focusing on one species such as the koala and the greater glider takes away from the critical importance of protecting the whole. Healthy ecosystems are essential for life. Remove part of an ecosystem and the entirety will change; as different species move in, others die out failing to adapt to the changes.

Climate change is a focus of most environmental discussions and biodiversity has virtually been shoved aside. The tragic legacy of the Black Summer bushfires with more than 3 billion animals lost is old history, requiring no attention. Yet the damage inflicted by the catastrophic fires cannot be repaired or resolved in a few short years.

In the absence of mainstream media focus on critical environmental issues facing this ancient land, it’s timely to revisit the growing mountain of denial by governments. Denial with profound ramifications for future generations, our kids. The Black Summer bushfires provide a unique perspective. The fires have been described as the worst wildlife disaster in modern history.

The NSW Government’s own records demonstrate the extent of the Black Summer disaster in NSW alone. A report by the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment estimated that 42 per cent of all state forests had been burnt. The impacts make sober reading.

With the fires came:

loss of ecological integrity;
loss of ecosystem capacity and services;
loss of biodiversity;
loss of plant species and habitat;
loss of invertebrates;
loss of vertebrate species and habitat;
loss of aquatic biodiversity;
loss and degradation of riparian zones; and
catastrophic soil loss with erosion impacts.

NSW Labor ignores environmental threats with another useless panel

NSW Premier Chris Minns’ latest effort to ensure the ongoing destruction of koala habitat is the establishment of an “Independent Forestry Panel”.

Professor Chris Dickman indicated almost 3 billion animals had died or been impacted by the fires including the following estimates: 143 million mammals, 2.46 billion reptiles, 180 million birds, 51 billion frogs and a mind-boggling 60,000 koalas.

According to one report, scientists estimated recovery and restoration of native flora and fauna would need an annual investment of $16 billion to avoid extinction risks.

In response, the Morrison Government provided $2 billion to a National Bushfire Recovery Fund.

But wait, there’s more. A research review into the decline of insect populations has revealed a catastrophic threat exists to 40 per cent of species over the next 100 years, with butterflies, moths, dragonflies, bees, ants and dung beetles most at risk. Insects comprise about two-thirds of all terrestrial species on Earth.

The study systematically assessed the drivers of the population decline and focused on the importance of insects' critical services within ecosystems, indicating prompt decisive action to avert a catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems should be made.

No major political party’s policies indicate a willingness to put the protection of Australia’s environment and biodiversity as a top priority of government. Wildlife will continue to be slaughtered.

Australia will lose any reputation as a responsible nation, providing instead a compelling history of a nation that deliberately eradicated its wildlife.

The cost of political environmental irresponsibility is immeasurable.