WA’s most vulnerable ecological communities are unrecognised according to damning Auditor-General report

Hundreds of Western Australia’s most vulnerable ecological communities are left unrecognised and unprotected, according to a damming report from the State’s Auditor-General. The report assessing if the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions was effectively managing threatened ecological communities across WA was tabled in Parliament last week. It outlines several concerns about the management of the unique groups of plants, animals and microorganisms which make up an ecological community with 65 TECs listed for the first time in WA in 2023. With 390 unrecognised ecological communities and WA Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn stating it could take about 18 months for a proposed listing to be fully recognised, Auditor-General Caroline Spencer said it would take the department more than 100 years to get through the backlog at its current pace. While the South West was well represented with 20 of the 65 recognised TECs, 42 additional endangered ecological communities were still waiting on a review — despite the South West being one of the smallest regions managed by the department. The backlog was most pressing in the Mid West, which leads the State with 109 areas yet to be reviewed and only 11 protected. Alongside the backlog, Ms Spencer said the DBCA primarily focused its monitoring and protection activities on land it manages — leaving two thirds of the State’s land significantly unprotected. The Auditor-General said there was no “significant progress” monitoring the condition of 72 per cent of land not managed by the DBCA and the department was failing to make landowners aware of the existence of the TECs on their land, or the assistance available to protect them. Within the report DBCA responded to the findings stating the department considers the listing paramount and while the Biodiversity Conservation Act provided greater legal protection for the communities compared to previous frameworks, the resources required to implement the act were significant. However, no additional resources were provided and the department had made establishing and implementing new processes a priority. Ms Spencer said the lack of additional resources was reflected by the report as well as weaknesses in its implementation planning. She said it was not clear if the condition of the areas were improving or declining overall. Mr Swinbourn told the Times recovery plans were prioritised for threatened species and ecological communities facing multiple threats, spanning multiple land tenures, involving many stakeholders, or having significant social, cultural or economic value. “DBCA is finalising conservation planning across all nine of its regions to ensure a consistent, prioritised approach to protecting threatened species and ecological communities Statewide,” he said. “Since 2017, DBCA has strengthened its governance and planning, including a department restructure, new leadership committees, and work towards a new strategic plan.” Ms Spencer said the absence of a Statewide strategic plan made it difficult to ensure regional activity aligned with overall departmental priorities. “It also makes it difficult for the department to demonstrate the level of resourcing needed to meet its TEC responsibilities and objectives under the laws passed by Parliament in 2016 and given effect in 2019 through the regulations,” she said. Conservation Council of WA executive director Matt Roberts said the report proved the need for stronger protections in Western Australia and confirmed the Government was failing to resource environmental agencies effectively, despite boasting a $2.4 billion surplus in the recent State Budget. “This is a matter of priorities, and it’s clear the Government has not yet understood the crisis our environment faces and its importance to our wellbeing,” he said. “The full and proper resourcing of our environment departments is critical to putting the proper protections in place and to effectively enforce environmental conditions.” Mr Roberts said a review and strengthening the Biodiversity Conservation Act was “overdue”. “WA has not published a State of the Environment Report since 2007 — the last Biodiversity Audit was in 2015,” he said. “We can’t pretend there isn’t a significant risk of extinction and ecological collapse by refusing to take account of the problem at hand.”