Five species, including Tasmania’s Maugean skate, could jeopardise the Albanese government’s zero extinctions target, according to a scientific committee that provides advice on endangered species.
A further 41 species are on course to be declared critically endangered, sparking alarm from environment groups at the pace at which plants and animals are reaching the most urgent status on the threatened list.
In letters to the environment and water minister, Tanya Plibersek, the threatened species scientific committee said it held immediate and “particular concern” for the Maugean skate – a critically endangered ancient fish species found only in Macquarie Harbour in Tasmania – and four plant species.
The plants include Pherosphaera fitzgeraldii, or dwarf mountain pine, a species found close to waterfalls in the Blue Mountains that can only be accessed using specialist gear.
Another is Acacia prismifolia (Diels’ wattle). Once thought to be extinct, it was found again in 2018 and is facing an imminent threat from road widening.
The first letter sent in April has been tabled at a Senate inquiry examining legislation for the government’s proposed nature repair market, which has failed to secure support from the opposition or the Greens.
The letter also alerted Plibersek to 27 other species, including the Mary River turtle – colloquially known as the punk turtle – that the committee would likely recommend be added to the critically endangered list.
The committee sent a second letter in June stating an additional 14 species were likely to be declared critically endangered – making a total of 41 – as well as one ecological community.
In that letter, the committee’s chair, Helene Marsh, said the “anticipated increase” to the critically endangered lists “demonstrates the very serious and increasing extinction risks to Australia’s biota”.
Marsh wrote that forthcoming changes to Australia’s environmental laws and conservation planning, including a proposal for regional-scale approaches to development and environmental protection, would need to be designed in a way that could be adapted for and accommodate continuous new additions to Australia’s lists of threatened wildlife.
“The purpose was to remind [Plibersek] this is a fluid situation with a lot of species going up all the time,” Marsh told Guardian Australia.
“It’s very important that any revision of the [Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation] Act accommodate that.”
Some, but not all, of the species likely to be listed as critically endangered were affected by the 2019-20 bushfires.
Some, like the Mary River turtle, would be having their conservation status upgraded, but for the majority it would be the first time they are listed at any level under national laws.
“This correspondence between the environment minister and the threatened species scientific committee makes one thing clear: nature in Australia is in big trouble,” Peta Bulling, a nature campaigner with the Australian Conservation Foundation, said.
“Plants and animals that make this land unique are being pushed towards extinction at a truly alarming pace.
“Of the 41 species identified by the committee, the majority have never even been listed as threatened under our national environment laws, yet here they are making their first appearance in the code-red category of critically endangered.”
The government has been consulting experts and environment and industry groups ahead of the release of draft legislation expected late this year to reform Australia’s failing environmental laws.
Tim Beshara, the manager of policy and strategy at the Wilderness Society, said the process was taking too long given the urgency of the biodiversity crisis.
“The alarm bells keep ringing but the emergency response still lays dormant. We don’t use the phrase ‘a biodiversity crisis’ for rhetorical effect; we use it because it’s an honest and factual description of where we are at,” he said.
“Despite the escalating crisis, the commonwealth’s environment minister is still stuck administering environment laws that were created by John Howard over two decades ago and with a threatened species budget that is unambiguously inadequate.”
The federal and Tasmanian governments have formed a new recovery team for the Maugean skate.
Plibersek said the Albanese government was committed to reforming Australia’s environmental laws and draft legislation would be released for public consultation later this year.
“Unlike the previous government, the Albanese Labor government does not accept extinctions as inevitable,” she said.
“That’s why we’re investing more in the environment than any government in Australian history.”
