While the headlines chase political theatre, nature is paying the price

By Méabh Friel, head of communications at ACF

With the Coalition and Pauline Hanson taking the spotlight, the Albanese Government has quietly waved through a scale of environmental breaches and mining expansions that should leave us outraged, writes the Australian Conservation Foundation’s Méabh Friel.

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Image: Supplied

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Turn on the news and you’d be forgiven for thinking Australian politics begins and ends with leadership speculation and fringe provocations. The daily spectacle of the Coalition’s internal battles and Pauline Hanson’s latest outrage dominates the airwaves. Meanwhile, decisions that will shape Australia’s environment for decades are slipping through with barely a mention.

Behind the noise, the federal government has quietly approved or enabled environmental damage on a scale that demands outrage. It tells a troubling story — not just about policy failure, but about a widening gap between what our leaders say about protecting nature and what they actually do.

Take Western Australia, where the Federal government recently did a cosy deal with US mining giant Alcoa, for environmental breaches that led to the destruction of one of the world’s only Jarrah forests which is critical habitat to threatened Black cockatoo species. The backroom deal, just $50,000,000 is the amount the mining company makes in a single day – but what about the Black cockatoos? They’ve lost their homes forever.

On one hand, we are told environmental rules matter. On the other, those same rules pave the way for mining expansions that will not only make the climate crisis worse, but clear habitat for our most vulnerable species like the koala. It’s like fining someone for drink-driving while waving them straight back onto the freeway.

This contradiction isn’t an isolated incident. In Queensland, the federal government has approved a massive coal mine expansion at Middlemount that will bulldoze critical koala habitat and lock in millions of tonnes of additional carbon pollution.

In 2025, the Albanese Government approved the bulldozing of a record amount of threatened species’ habitat. More than 57,000 hectares’ worth (that’s equivalent to an area about three-quarters the size of Singapore) was approved to be knocked down to make way for 56 projects.

That’s more than double the amount green-lit to be destroyed in the previous year and more than fivefold what the government approved to be razed in 2023. It’s the largest in any single 12-month period since ACF’s analysis began in 2011. All but 2% of it was in just three states – Western Australia, Queensland and New South Wales. Mining accounted for 79% of the destruction.

At a time when Australians are already paying the price for worsening climate impacts - from rising insurance premiums to soaring energy bills - approving new coal expansions and land-clearing of native forest and critical habitat makes no economic or environmental sense.

Young Australians understand this instinctively. They are growing up in a country shaped by fires, floods and heatwaves that are more frequent and more severe than ever before. They know that decisions made today determine the kind of future they inherit. We can all see the disconnect between the so-called climate action rhetoric of our elected representatives and the reality of continued fossil fuel expansion and habitat destruction.

Unfortunately, the decisions and outcomes for our environment have become entirely predictable. Australians were promised a once-in-a-generation overhaul of our national nature laws - the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. On paper, the nature law reforms give our precious species a fighting chance. But unless there’s a concerted effort for high environmental standards and a watchdog with teeth, the laws are meaningless for nature protection.

Let’s take a closer look at one of our threatened species - the northern quoll. The federal government recognises this carnivorous marsupial as an endangered species, yet, since 2011, more than 40,000 hectares of its home have been given the tick to be bulldozed.

These aren’t only homes for animals. Native forests support water and soil health and store some 19,000 million tonnes of carbon. We need them. Each individual decision can seem technical or obscure. Together, they amount to a steady dismantling of the natural systems that support our economy and our way of life.

Nature doesn’t make headlines in the same way political drama does. There is no daily press conference from threatened species. No breaking news alert when a patch of critical habitat disappears. But the consequences are real and lasting. Australians deserve better than a system that says it’ll protect while delivering decline.

If we are serious about tackling the cost-of-living pressures facing households, protecting nature must be part of the solution. Renewable energy — not new coal and gas — offers the cheapest path to lower power bills. Healthy forests and ecosystems protect communities from climate extremes. Strong environmental laws provide certainty for business and safeguard the natural assets that underpin tourism, agriculture and regional jobs.

Most importantly, they ensure future generations inherit a country that is richer, not poorer, in wildlife and natural beauty.

Australia stands at a crossroads. We can continue with a system where environmental protection depends on political convenience. Or we build laws that genuinely protect the places and species Australians love and care about.

While the headlines focus elsewhere, that choice is being made right now. If we don’t pay attention, it’s nature and people who lose.

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Support ACF

The Australian Conservation Foundation’s annual giving day is happening this week on March 5th, and every donation will be matched thanks to a generous group of nature lovers! Donate on Thursday or (sign up for a reminder) to double your impact: help stop the bulldozers in real time and ensure every act of reckless environmental destruction uncovered this year is heard, thanks to ACF Investigates.

ACF Investigates is a citizen science project that brings together a community of nature-loving digital sleuths who help uncover deforestation by classifying satellite imagery and gathering data on their phone or desktop. Become an investigator here.

About the author

Méabh Friel

Méabh is the head of communications at the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), where she specialises in campaigns and communications that inspire action on climate and the protection of nature. Prior to joining ACF, Méabh held a range of for-purpose roles in Australia, Sierra Leone and Tanzania and helped lead a global taskforce with the purpose of decolonising communications in the aid sector, focussing on climate, economic and gender justice.