Guardian Australia interviewed scientists, researchers, conservationists and policy analysts whose work across threatened species research and protection spans decades. They described the situation confronting Australia’s threatened plants and animals as a “national disgrace” and the systems that are supposed to protect them as “broken”. The purpose of the laws is not really about arresting and reversing the decline of threatened species,” he says. Since the Coalition took power in 2013, it has taken steps to invest in the eradication of predators such as feral cats and has established a threatened species commissioner to raise the profile of threatened species. “The Coalition government, however, is strongly committed to threatened species protection and recovery – that’s why we appointed Australia’s first threatened species commissioner.

Source: The Guardian February 12, 2018 17:01 UTC