The Conservation Council of WA (CCWA) has called on the WA Government to pull its head out of the sand and pay attention to the grim findings in the latest Extinction Wrapped Report by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF).
Released yesterday, the report showed that WA’s Pilbara region was home to all of the ‘top five’ animal species worst affected by approved habitat destruction.
It showed that last year, the Federal government gave the green light to the destruction of more than 57,000 hectares of threatened species habitat, making it the worst 12-month period for habitat clearing in 15 years.
CCWA Executive Director Matt Roberts said the Northern Quoll, Night Parrot, Ghost Bat, Pilbara Leaf-nosed Bat and Pilbara Olive Python were most affected.
He said the Night Parrot was moved from ‘endangered’ to ‘critically endangered’ and was second on the list of Australian threatened species worst impacted by federally approved destruction in 2025.
“This grim report speaks to the broken way we approach conservation as a whole in this country,” Mr Roberts said.
“This level of clearing, particularly in WA, was sanctioned and rubber stamped under a law entitled the ‘Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act’ (EPBC), which makes a mockery of the language and intent.
“Our new nature laws will only be as good as the standards that get passed in the coming months. The revised Environment Protection and Biodiversity (EPBC) Act, which passed through the Senate last year, does not give us the laws needed to prevent this clearing from happening in 2026.
“This is a wake-up call for the government to stop creating exemptions that allow clearing which is pushing threatened species closer to the brink of extinction.
“We can point a finger at mega-projects like Rio Tinto’s West Angelas iron ore mine east of Karijini as the main culprit, but there are a whole host of iron ore and other mining projects across the Pilbara which are contributing to habitat loss.”
Mr Roberts said we need to look beyond business as usual in the Pilbara, with opportunities to move to a green steel industry, recycling steel from decommissioning infrastrucutre, rather than clearing more precious habitat for iron ore.
"What we will not accept are standards which provide Environment Ministers – both current and future – with unacceptable ‘captain calls’ on project approvals that sideline protection for threatened species."
Mr Roberts said in 2025 CCWA released a draft report about to be titled Back from the Brink – A Protection Agenda for Nature, addressing the threats to WA’s biodiversity from land clearing, climate change, and resource extraction.
“To bring biodiversity back from the brink we must strengthen environmental protections and stop the destruction of WA’s remaining ecosystems and critical habitat,” Mr Roberts said.
“WA is home to eight of Australia’s 15 biodiversity hotspots, and it contains between 600,000 – 700,000 native species, many found nowhere else in the world.
“Across WA there are 178 Critically Endangered flora species, 152 endangered, 120 vulnerable and 16 extinct. There are 61 critically engaged animals, 66 endangered, 123 vulnerable, and 23 extinct.
“Year-on-year this number continues to grow with no clear plan for these species – many without a recovery plan at all. It is appalling that in the richest state in the country we have allowed our natural world to decline so rapidly and consistently.”
ENDS
Media contact: John Cooke – 0433 679 780 – [email protected]
WA Threatened species list
