Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to amend business of the Senate notice of motion No. 1 standing in my name relating to a reference to the Senate Standing Committee on Environment, Communications and the Arts.

Leave granted.

I move the motion as amended:

That—

(1)   The Senate notes the continuing decline and extinction of a significant proportion of Australia’s unique plants and animals, and the likelihood that accelerating climate change will exacerbate challenges faced by Australian species.

(2)   The following matter be referred to the Environment, Communications and the Arts Committee for inquiry and report by 27 November 2008:

The operation of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) and other natural resource protection programs, with particular reference to:

(a)   the findings of the Australian National Audit Office, Audit report no. 38 of 2002-03, Referrals, Assessments and Approvals under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999;

(b)   lessons learnt from the first 10 years of operation of the EPBC Act in relation to the protection of critical habitats of threatened species and ecological communities, and the potential for measures to improve their recovery;

(c)   the cumulative impacts of EPBC Act approvals on threatened species and ecological communities, for example on Cumberland Plain Woodland, Cassowary habitat, Grassy White Box Woodlands and the Paradise Dam;

(d)   the effectiveness of responses to key threats identified within the EPBC Act, including land-clearing, climate change and invasive species, and potential for future measures to build environmental resilience and facilitate adaptation within a changing climate;

(e)   the effectiveness of Regional Forest Agreements, in protecting forest species and forest habitats where the EPBC Act does not directly apply;

(f)   the impacts of other environmental programs, for example Envirofund, Green Corps, Caring for our Country, Environmental Stewardship Programme and Landcare, in dealing with the decline and extinction of certain flora and fauna; and

(g)   the impact of program changes and cuts in funding on the decline or extinction of flora and fauna.

Question agreed to.