- New National Environmental Standards fall short of what our marine life desperately needs
- As endangered species face extinction threats such as H5 bird flu, these standards miss the mark
- The standards lack real ways to measure if or how they are performing for our ocean
The first National Environmental Standards fall short of the clear, enforceable protections needed for Australia’s ocean and coasts.
They leave Australia’s threatened marine species exposed to cumulating threats including bird flu and climate change, especially in light of further H5 bird flu mass mortality events.
AMCS Campaigns Director Alexia Wellbelove said: “This government committed to no new extinctions. With H5N1 bird flu now on our shores and killing wildlife in the hundreds, our marine life needs every protection it can get to build resilience, not Standards that leave the door open to more of the same.
“The whole rationale for the Standards was that clear rules were needed to address the high levels of discretion and ambiguity that has plagued decision making under the EPBC Act. These Standards were supposed to fix that, but instead have simply carried many of them forward.
“With no way to measure if, or how, these new standards are performing for nature, the standard falls short of the clear outcomes-based framework that our marine life needs right now.
“We are calling on the Australian Government to clarify how it will measure the performance of these Standards in delivering outcomes for marine life. How will we know if the Standards actually improve the quality of decision making under the EPBC Act?
“The Australian Government should be doing everything it can right now to ensure the biodiversity of Australia’s ocean and coasts are protected so that they are more resilient in the face of ever increasing threats like Bird Flu and climate change.”
