Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to Senator Pocock. He is correct that we are a country, a nation, that has one of the worst extinction records in the world. We have one of the worst mammal extinction records in the world. Obviously, we have seen land and water degradation which has an effect not just on humans but on our many animal and plant species. I know that the Minister for the Environment and Water has been very clear about the importance of working towards zero extinctions. This has been endorsed by every state and territory.

As part of that we are investing in excess of $200 million in the Saving Native Species program. We have put in place a new threatened species action plan which sets ambitious targets, seeking to protect 30 per cent of our land and seas by 2030. Critically, we are looking at reform of the environmental legal framework. Senator Pocock would be familiar with the Samuels review into the EPBC Act. Ms Plibersek is taking forward the process to reform those to protect, restore and manage native habitats. The Australian Conservation Foundation, ACF, has welcomed the government's new threatened species objective and made the very important point that extinction is a choice, and we need to choose a better path. We need to change the trajectory for the range of threatened species and their habitats, and certainly the government, particularly Ms Plibersek, is focused on doing so