Alarming new data reveals land clearing activities in New South Wales have surged by 129% following significant environmental law reforms implemented in 2016, creating unprecedented risks for both agricultural sustainability and endangered wildlife populations. The findings from the Wentworth Group demonstrate how vegetation management deregulation has triggered widespread ecological consequences across the Australian state.
Former Treasury Secretary Dr. Ken Henry, now chair of the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation, is delivering an urgent plea for policy reform, emphasizing that environmental protection and economic interests are fundamentally aligned rather than contradictory. “When we destroy the vegetation that stabilises our soils and regulates our water, we destroy our capacity to farm,” Dr. Henry stated in his address to the Rural Press Club. “Protecting nature is not anti-farmer—abandoning it is.”
The statistical analysis reveals approximately 677,500 hectares of land has been cleared since 2010, equivalent to three times the area of the Australian Capital Territory. This destruction has impacted 34,000 hectares of vital riparian corridors and jeopardized up to 150,000 hectares of habitat for vulnerable species including greater gliders, malleefowl, southern brown bandicoots, and long-nosed potoroos.
The 2016 legislative changes transferred significant vegetation management authority to landowners through self-assessable clearing codes, creating a regulatory conflict with federal environmental protections established under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Dr. Henry highlighted how this legal contradiction places landowners in an impossible position where clearing activities may be permitted under state law while violating federal regulations.
NSW Premier Chris Minns previously committed to addressing excessive land clearing during the 2022 state election campaign. The current administration is now examining comprehensive biosecurity law reforms aligned with Dr. Henry’s recommendations, which include establishing absolute no-clearing zones, implementing real-time spatial monitoring systems, and providing enhanced support services for landholders engaged in ecosystem restoration.