Media Releases - 04 March 2025
Wilderness Society takes Australian Environment Minister to court for neglecting nature
The Wilderness Society has launched court action against Australia’s Environment Minister, saying successive environment ministers have failed in their legal duties to create recovery plans that would give threatened wildlife a better chance at surviving extinction.
Under Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act), the Federal environment minister has a legal duty to make recovery plans for endangered animals and plants. These plans are like rescue roadmaps that lay out the steps needed to support species to recover and thrive in the wild.
The Wilderness Society will allege in the Federal Court, through its lawyers Environmental Justice Australia, that Australia’s environment minister has not complied with the legal duty to make recovery plans for threatened species. It says this failure is unlawful.
The Wilderness Society considers that successive Australian environment ministers have not met their legal duty to make plans for hundreds of threatened species that are in desperate need of protection.
Amelia Young, National Campaigns Director for the Wilderness Society, said: “For decades, government after government has failed to make recovery plans for hundreds of threatened species that are in dire need of better care.
“We’re going to court because Australia's pride and joy — its diverse and world-important environment — is being trashed. This case will shine a light on the legal and moral duties of current and future environment ministers to do their job to help Aussie wildlife beat extinction.
Sam Szoke-Burke, Biodiversity Policy and Campaign Manager for the Wilderness Society, says: “Recovery plans are legally required. Following the law should not be a high bar for government ministers.
“Environment ministers must be nature’s strongest champions. That successive ministers have not made required recovery plans is a symptom of the continuing government neglect that is pushing unique species like the greater glider and Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle closer to extinction.”
Environmental Justice Australia senior specialist lawyer Ellen Maybery, says:
“Australia’s environment laws are clear: when animals, plants and ecosystems are at risk of extinction and need a recovery plan, the environment minister must act and create one.
“Too many of Australia’s most iconic and threatened species simply don’t have recovery plans. Successive ministers have failed to make them or let them expire.”
“Our client hopes this case will set a precedent that compels all future environment ministers to create recovery plans and pull these unique species back from the brink of extinction.”
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Once the minister has decided a species requires a recovery plan, the EPBC Act states a plan must ordinarily be made within three years. An Auditor General report in 2022 found that since 2013, only two per cent of recovery plans were completed within the statutory time frame.
The Wilderness Society is asking the Court to compel the environment minister to make sure that the following species have recovery plans: Australian grayling, Australian lungfish, Baudin's cockatoo, Carnaby's black cockatoo, forest red-tailed black cockatoo, ghost bat, greater glider (southern and central), red goshawk, sandhill dunnart, and Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle.
The court case was filed on Monday 3 March.
The EPBC Act has recently been the subject of political and media focus, following the withdrawal of the Albanese government’s Nature Positive bills in February 2025, which would have amended the EPBC Act.
List of species named in the case:
Species | Description and distribution | Listing and recovery plan decision dates |
Greater Glider (Southern and Central) | Need hollow-bearing eucalyptus trees for food and shelter. Conservation of Victoria, NSW and QLD tall forests is vital for their survival. Listed as Vulnerable under the EPBC Act in 2016, and endangered in 2022. The Greater Glider species has undergone a severe reduction in numbers of at least 50 percent between 2000-2022 (Conservation advice, 2022, page 46). | They were listed as Vulnerable under the EPBC Act in 2016, and Endangered in 2022—yet destruction of their habitat continues today. Greater Glider populations plummeted by at least 50 percent between 2000-2022. The Environment Minister decided greater gliders required a Recovery Plan in 2016. Today—still no recovery plan. |
Ghost Bat | Ghost bats used to live in permanent maternal roosts in deep natural caves and old mines across Australia, but habitat destruction means the only survivors live in scattered populations, mainly in the Top End. Helping them means protecting precious bushland and savanna threatened by deforestation in Northern Australia. Ghost bats are Australia’s largest microbat. The ghost bad has experience more than 30% population decline (between 60-90% in some regions) between 1992-2016 (Conservation advice, 2015, page 9) | Ghost bats were listed as Vulnerable in 2016 and the Environment Minister decided the species requires a Recovery Plan that same year. Today—still no recovery plan. |
Baudin's Cockatoo | Baudin’s black cockatoos need mature trees for nesting. Their survival is closely tied to the protection of WA’s Jarrah forests from mining and banksias from development. Rate of decline for Baudin’s cockatoo is more than 50 percent over three generations since the 1960s (Conservation advice, 2018, page 6). | They were listed as endangered in 2018. The Environment Minister decided they needed a recovery plan in 2009, and a plan was made in 2011. But this expired in 2021. Today—no current recovery plan. |
Forest Red-Tailed Black Cockatoo | Forest red-tailed black cockatoos are endemic to forests in the south west from Albany to Perth. They make a short call that sounds like their Noongar name ‘karak’ .
They’re monogamous, live in small family groupings and breed in tree hollows—females only have one chick at a time, sometimes breeding only once every 2-3 years. Up to 30% decline in population estimated when listed in 2008 (Listing advice, 2009, page 5) | They were listed as vulnerable in 2009. A recovery plan was made in 2011, but it expired in 2021. Today—no current recovery plan. |
Carnaby's Cockatoo | Carnaby’s black cockatoos live in native woodlands in WA, migrating back and forth from the Swan Coastal Plain where they feed in summer, to the Wheatbelt where they breed in tree hollows in winter. They used to live in flocks of thousands but now there are so few, they’re listed as endangered. They breed in monogamous pairs, returning to the same tree hollow each year to breed. Population declined by more than 50% over the 58 years to 1998 (SPRAT Species profile). | Carnaby’s black cockatoos were listed as endangered way back in 2000. The Environment Minister decided they needed a recovery plan in 2009—and a plan was eventually made in 2014. But this plan expired in April 2024. Today—no current recovery plan. |
Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle | Rely on old growth forests for nesting and hunting, and help maintain the ecological integrity of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. They lay eggs in intervals so the eggs hatch simultaneously. They desert their nest (often for years) if disturbed. These top-order predators hunt over a wide range, and can carry up to half their body weight during flight. Estimated at less than 1,000 remaining in the wild (SPRAT Species profile) | These top-order predators were listed as endangered 25 years ago, in 2000. The Environment Minister decided the species needs a recovery plan in 2007 and a plan was made that same year, but it was meant to expire in 2017. The government attempted to expand the expiration to April 2024. Today—no current recovery plan. |
Sandhill dunnart | Found in arid sand dunes of South Australia and Western Australia, this elusive carnivorous marsupial needs intact spinifex habitat. Protecting remnant sandplain ecosystems, including the north of the Nullarbor Plain, from land clearing is crucial for its survival. They sleep by day in sandy burrows, then forage almost all night long for insects and reptiles They’re often called “marsupial mice” they are so similar to mice in cold weather they have been recorded sharing their nests with house mice to keep warm. | Sandhill dunnarts were officially listed as endangered in 2000 under the EPBC Act (they were also listed under the preceding Act). In 2009, the Environment Minister decided sandhill dunnarts needed a Recovery Plan. |
Red goshawk | Once widespread across northern Australia, and often found close to watercourses, this powerful raptor now relies on intact woodlands and riparian forests. Preventing deforestation, much of which is agriculture driven, and safeguarding breeding sites are key to its recovery. Red goshawks, affectionately called The Red, are almighty raptors with huge yellow feet and powerful talons. They are believed to be Australia’s rarest bird of prey (Conversation article on University of Qld research). They are evolutionary oddities, with no near relatives in Australia. There are currently estimated to be under 1,400 mature red goshawks in the wild, and declining. The red goshawk has been listed as Endangered because all of these mature individuals are all found within the single remaining population, which faces ongoing threats (Conservation advice, 2023, page 23) | Red goshawks were listed as Vulnerable in 1999 and Endangered in 2023. The Environment Minister decided they needed a recovery plan in 2012, but this plan was meant to expire in 2022. The government attempted to expand the expiration to April 2024. Today—no current recovery plan.
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Long-footed potoroo | Endemic to the dense forests of Victoria and New South Wales, this shy, truffle-eating marsupial depends on undisturbed undergrowth. Stopping logging is essential to its survival. It’s estimated long-footed potoroos lost 80% of their known habitat in the black summer bushfires. These rare marsupials are only found in three places in the world The Long-footed potoroo’s population declined at least 50% over the 21 years up to 2021 (Conservation advice, 2022, page 36) | These shy marsupials were listed as endangered under the EPBC Act in 2000 (they were already listed under the preceding Act). They had a recovery plan made in 2001, and the Minister confirmed the species indeed needed a recovery plan in 2007. However when this recovery plan was meant to expire in 2017. The government attempted to expand the expiration to 2022 and then once again to April 2024. However this recovery plan has not been updated and has now expired. Today—no current recovery plan. |
Australian grayling | This freshwater fish, found in coastal rivers from NSW, SA and Victoria to Tasmania, needs free-flowing streams for migration and spawning. Restoring river connectivity and maintaining water quality are vital for its future. Also know as the Cucumber Mullet due to the cucumber smell given off by freshly caught fish. Fascinating use of waterways: adults spawn in lower freshwater reaches of water systems, their larvae then drift downstream to the sea, and juveniles migrate back upstream into freshwater. The grayling has been estimated to have an “area of occupancy” of less than 2,000m2, as much of its usual distribution in NSW and Victoria has been impacted by threats including bushfire and sediment (Conservation advice, 2020, pages 15-16) | Freshwater graylings were listed as vulnerable in 2000 (and had also been listed under the previous legislation). The Environment Minister decided they need a recovery plan in 2009. Their plan was meant to expire in 2018, but the government attempted to expand the expiration to 2022, and once again to 1 April 2024. Today—no current recovery plan. |
Australian lungfish | A living fossil of immense scientific importance from Queensland’s Mary and Burnett Rivers, this ancient species relies on slow-moving waters with abundant aquatic plants. Protecting river flows and preventing habitat destruction are critical for its survival. Australian lungfish have a single lung and the unique ability to breathe air when there’s no water, or through their five pairs of gills. They have poor eyesight and can use electroreception (ability to sense electric fields) to locate hidden prey like frogs, earthworms, small fish, shrimp and snails. They grow very slowly and live for decades—with one estimated to lived to the age of 109. | Habitat destruction and drying rivers are leaving Australian lungfish in peril, and they were listed as vulnerable back in 2003. The Environment Minister decided Australian lungfish required a Recovery Plan in 2009. |
For interviews with Sam Szoke-Burke, Biodiversity Policy and Campaign Manager at the Wilderness Society, please contact Rhiannon Cunningham, media adviser for the Wilderness Society on [email protected] or 0419 992 760
For interviews with Ellen Maybery, Environmental Justice Australia senior specialist lawyer, please contact Miki Perkins, senior media and comms adviser for Environmental Justice Australia on [email protected] or 03 8341 3110