While the most recent federal budget kept a glimmer of hope by retaining the current funding to establish a federal EPA, less than 1% of the federal budget is allocated to nature protection.
This is nowhere near enough to tackle Australia's worsening biodiversity crisis.
We urgently need sufficient funding for nature protection in Australia.
For decades, underfunding has driven species to the brink.
The latest budget failed to include new funding for threatened species recovery, except for $3 million from existing resources toward a Maugean skate captive breeding program.
This lack of funding contradicts the urgent need to tackle the biodiversity crisis.
Since colonisation, more than 100 species have been driven to extinction.
Over 2,000 species and ecological communities are listed as at risk of going the same way.
A well-resourced, independent federal EPA can make a difference.