Matters of national environmental significance include important populations of threatened species, the Great Barrier Reef and some migratory species. “If you look at the problem of deforestation in Australia, it’s predominately caused by private land clearing and logging,” she said. “Logging has a formal exemption from federal environment laws [through the regional forestry agreements], and this shows that clearing has a virtual exemption. When activities presenting a higher risk, as a result of Queensland land-clearing permits were identified, the strongest letters to comply with federal obligations were issued. Landholders were given an opportunity to comply but, where they did not, they were held to full account under federal environmental law.

Source: The Guardian March 04, 2018 17:00 UTC