Sir David Attenborough 'appalled' by human impact on ocean floor
Natural historian David Attenborough says humanity has inflicted 'unspeakably awful' damage on the marine environment in a recorded conversation with Prince William.
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ABC News
10 hours ago
- ABC News
Operators and peak land conservation body call for Queensland to drop land tax for nature refuges
People operating nature refuges that play a pivotal role in the Queensland government's conservation goals say having to pay land tax is "dumb", and a disincentive to others wanting to protect habitats on their property. Nature refuges, also known as conservation covenants, are deals struck between the state government and landholders to protect their land in perpetuity. There are 592 such refuges around Queensland, protecting 4,930,731 hectares of important habitat. State land tax is applied to the accumulative property owned by an individual worth $600,000 or more, unless it is your home or subject to an exemption. Charities and primary producers, who run a great deal of the state's refuges, already receive a land tax exemption, but Queensland is the last state charging private landholders with refuges. Premier David Crisafulli last month flagged an ambition to rapidly expand protected areas in the state, with a focus on nature refuges. About 8.6 per cent of state has been protected, making the government about 14 million hectares short of its goal to protect 17 per cent of the state's land. A statement from the the Department of Environment, Science and Tourism said nature refuges "play a critical role in conserving biodiversity, safeguarding habitats, and enhancing ecological connectivity across landscapes". The federal government has set its own goal of preserving 30 per cent of the country by 2030. Andrew Taylor operates a nature refuge west of Brisbane, adjacent to the D'Aguilar National Park, with his partner Gabby. He said it was a "pristine" block that had never been farmed or cleared, which created a corridor between two parts of the national park. In order to prove the block's worthiness, Mr Taylor said he had to engage a third-party consultant at the cost of about $13,000 to assess the values of the property. "They identified that it was habitat for the black-breasted button quail, for scrub turpentine, and a few other species which are listed as vulnerable or endangered." Mr Taylor said they paid around $3,500 in land tax every year — a price he believes will "inevitably rise". The total cost of converting land to a nature refuge and the ongoing management can be a "disincentive" to people considering the taking the step, he added. While some councils offer support and rate relief for nature refuges, Somerset Regional Council, where Mr Taylor's property is located, does not. Mr Taylor said he had received a state grant of $25,000 in 2023 to help eliminate the invasive weed cat's claw, which paid for three workers for a week on the property. "I think people weigh up the financial pros and cons of converting a property and one of those financial disincentives is having to aggregate that land for the purposes of determining the threshold for land tax," he said. The ABC understands the Queensland government is considering a submission from the Australian Land Conservation Alliance (ALCA) for the exemption to be expanded to private land holders. ALCA policy lead Michael Cornish said because of existing exemptions, the change would come at a "low and reasonable cost" to the government. "We're not talking about millions of dollars here," he said. "For governments who might try to fund the entirety of their conservationist project themselves, it's a much cheaper lever to pull." In research published earlier this year, Griffith University conservation planning expert Dr Michelle Ward found half of the habitat of 220 "highly imperilled" species fell outside of currently protected areas. Dr Ward was encouraged by the Queensland government's focus on nature refuges, and said a land tax exemption would be a "great first step and incentive" to encourage landholders. "These landholders need to be adequately paid for taking land out of production and maintaining it as natural vegetation as well as managing the land," she said. "Conservation actions are not cheap … it's not just a single point in time that it needs to happen, it needs to happen over many years." In 2024, Victoria became the most recent state to introduce a similar exemption to what is being called for in Queensland. The change caused a surge of interest in nature refuges, according to Trust for Nature, an organisation that helps landholders through the process of converting their land. "In the past year we've had a record number of 53 covenants registered and 168 are currently in progress," Trust for Nature Victoria chief executive Corinne Proske said. Much of this interest has come in areas around Melbourne with high land tax, such as the Mornington Peninsula, Ms Proske said. She said areas with high developmental value were often those that needed the most protection. Queensland property owners tend to pay far less in land tax than in Victoria, but Mr Cornish from ALCA said an exemption for nature refuges would be a good opportunity for the government to "put their money where their mouth is". On the Sunshine Coast, Deon Venter and his wife Jane have converted 32 hectares of a 35 hectare block to a nature refuge. Many of the blocks around it have been developed, and the property provides part of a nature corridor directly into Tewantin National Park. "The amount of diversity is stunning, at both the botanical and animal level. Every time you walk through it you notice something new," Mr Venter said. They receive support from the council for weeding, and spend several thousand dollars of their own money annually on upkeep. Last year the couple had to pay $11,000 in land tax, despite the covenant meaning they legally cannot develop the site. "We believe we should get an exemption on the tax for a substantial part of the property since it is not an economic asset in any way, it is actually an economic drain," Mr Venter said. Wal Mayr, who runs a 25 hectare nature refuge in the Gold Coast hinterland with his wife Heather, said they were lucky to receive support from the council and state grants, outweighing the few thousand they pay in land tax. But it still rubbed him the wrong way.
ABC News
a day ago
- ABC News
Ricky Stuart: You always just want the best for your kids
21m ago 21 minutes ago Sat 21 Jun 2025 at 5:00am Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Play Duration: 49 minutes 31 seconds 49 m
ABC News
a day ago
- ABC News
ACF says satellite evidence shows mass native habitat destruction by farmers
Investigations are under way into a report by a leading conservation group that farmers have illegally cleared thousands of hectares of native bushland across Australia in a few years. The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) used satellite images and on-the-ground volunteers to document what it says are 90,000 hectares, or 900 square kilometres, of lost bush on 176 properties in NSW, QLD, WA and NT. It says all the sites contained threatened species habitat and the land cleared between 2020 and 2025 equalled an area the size of about 320 Sydney CBDs. ACF business and nature lead, Nathaniel Pelle, said beef production was the primary culprit. "Among these 90,000 hectares that we've identified, the majority of it is identifiable as cattle properties," he said. "It's all pretty mature bush that is being cleared here … some of it might be 20-year-old regrowth and that's still valuable habitat for species." Retired IT professional Ruth Hughes took part in the project as a citizen scientist comparing before-and-after satellite images. "ACF has set it up and we get these shots of high-value nature areas," Ms Hughes said. Land clearing likely to impact threatened species must receive federal approval through the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act). ACF claimed none of the land clearing it documented had EPBC approval. Mr Pelle said federal and state governments had to do more to protect Australia from further deforestation. "Unfortunately, federal and state authorities are not properly monitoring or protecting habitat across the country," he said. "It is extremely important that we don't allow environmental degradation to continue. The ACF said the majority of the land clearing was in NSW and Queensland. State and territory governments are the main bodies responsible for enforcing land management and policing land clearing. The NSW government confirmed it received material from the ACF and has launched an investigation. "The department has received and is investigating allegations referred by the ACF," said a Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water spokesperson. "We are unable to comment on cases currently under investigation, as it could impact future legal processes." Queensland's Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Manufacturing, and Regional and Rural Development said it investigated all land clearing allegations, "including from ACF". The National Farmers Federation (NFF) hit back at the report. President David Jochinke said the report was full of holes, anti-agriculture and gave no credence to the hard work farmers undertook to preserve biodiversity and habitats. "You tell me how much of that 90,000 hectares is woody weed management … how much of that 90,000 hectares were legitimately cleared with offsets?" Mr Jochinke told the NSW Country Hour. "This so-called report is just an attack on agriculture, without even any context or knowledge of both what land stewardship is and how agriculture looks after over half of Australia's natural environment. Mr Jochinke said the NFF opposed illegal land clearing "but we know the majority of farmers do the right thing … and actually offset a lot of their land management". He said the majority of farmers worked with Landcare and other organisations to plant trees and regenerate farmland. "We understand we've got to look after nature because it absolutely helps our production systems," he said.
