The projects are among $255m the government says has been dedicated to species protection since the appointment of Australia’s first threatened species commissioner in 2014. In each case, the applicants seeking funding had said their work would protect threatened species, and their application was assessed against the program’s criteria. No record of some threatened species in area government says it's protecting them Read moreThe hearing heard the environment department did not audit projects designed to protect threatened species. Labor senator Anthony Chisholm asked why, of 1885 listed threatened species or communities, only 712 – 38% – had formal recovery plans. He said every threatened species had conservation advice prepared when they were listed that set out the threats they faced and the priority actions needed to help them recover.

Source: The Guardian February 26, 2018 09:00 UTC