Wilderness Society in the Media

18 June 2024 - Two proposed hydrogen and e-fuel projects in northern Tasmania will have significant impacts on renewable energy demand and the environment, requiring hundreds of new wind turbines, using billions of litres of water, and threatening native forest, according to a new report jointly produced by the Tasmanian Climate Collective, The Tree Projects and the Wilderness Society.

Jimmy Cordwell, campaigner for the Wilderness Society, said, “These proposed projects are just robbing Peter to pay Paul. There is no doubt that a transition to renewable energy is necessary, but how we undertake such projects is crucial. Increasing the destruction of Lutruwita / Tasmania’s world-class forests for low-value woodchip to power hydrogen and e-fuel projects is unacceptable.

13 June 2024 - This year's shortlist for the annual Karajia and Environment Awards for Children's Literature has been announced. Now in it's 30th year, the Environment Award for Children's Literature acknowledges books that inspire a love of and care for nature. The Karajia Award is a prize specifically for First Nations writers writing about Country, Culture and connection.

Matt Brennan, CEO of Wilderness Society, said “Storytelling is one of the ways that the Wilderness Society helps to protect nature. Using photographs, illustrations, and stories is how we connect people to nature. And it has been from the very beginning of our organisation’s history, when a simple photo of a river bend in the Franklin River galvanised a nation.

8 June 2024 - Questions around future management of Kunanyi / Mt Wellington and the surrounding park are being raised in Tasmania.

Jimmy Cordwell, campaigner for the Wilderness Society, says protection of Kunanyi / Mt Wellington "must focus on the preservation of its iconic natural values and deep cultural significance. Honouring the rights and aspirations of Aboriginal Tasmanians, their stewardship of Country, and the recommendations of the Pathway to Truth-Telling and Treaty must be front and centre."

6 June 2024 - Chevron proposes to create "artificial reefs" out of long disused oil platforms off WA's Pilbara coast. Yet research shows oil and gas platform can cause heavy metals and other chemicals to leach into the environment.

Fern Cadman, Fossil Fuels Campaigner for the Wilderness Society, said, "The question we should be asking is whether oil and gas infrastructure, which was never intended to be a substitute for marine ecosystems, should be being used in that way."

"We are concerned that this project slipping through without proper environmental scrutiny could then set a precedent for other similar proposals."

4 June 2024 - In Australia, “irreplaceable” tall-tree forests remain at risk, says Amelia Young, the Wilderness Society’s National Campaigns Director. “Because of our evolutionary history, these forests are unlike those found anywhere else on Earth. There are so few left, [yet] they are incredibly significant for biological and cultural reasons.”

29 May 2024 - In May, the Albanese government released their draft Environmental Protection Agency Bill.

Wilderness Society campaigner Victoria Jack said a minimum standard for the new EPA must be effective consultation on approval proposals.

“The public must be able to have a fair say about environmental decisions that will affect them.”

15 May 2024 - After a disappointing budget announcement, Biodiversity Policy and Campaign Manager, Sam Szoke-Burke said, "The Albanese government has again responded to this crisis with shrugged shoulders and more of the same. It’s clear that nature is not a priority for the Albanese government—a government that was elected on the promise of environment and climate action."

10 May 2024 - The Wilderness Society Tasmania lodged an appeal to the Supreme Court of Tasmania, to challenge the Magistrate's decision that it did not have jurisdictional authority to bring a criminal prosecution against Sustainable Timber Tasmania.

"The community expects Tasmania's precious forests to be protected by strong laws, but the regulator is nowhere to be seen," said campaigns manager Alice Hardinge.

"If the Forestry Practices Authority can't or won't do it, the community should have the right to do so."

9 May 2024 - It was revealed that the Australian government asked the EU to delay its regulation that would prevent the import of commodities linked to deforestation.

"The Australian government is telling the world Australia is a global leader on environment issues, all while asking for delays and exemptions to the EU's flagship deforestation regulation," said Adele Chasson, Corporate Campaigner for the Wilderness Society.

21 April 2024 - In April, the Albanese government announced their plan to establish an Environmental Protection Agency.

Amelia Young, Campaigns Director for the Wilderness Society, said “nature needs a proper EPA”, with powers like those of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, which as the watchdog for financial markets cannot be overridden by the finance minister.

13 April 2024 - Sam Szoke-Burke, Biodiversity Policy and Campaign Manager, says the community will judge the current environmental law reforms on whether they “actually stop deforestation and extinctions."

“The current drafts don’t yet change the status quo for nature.”

19 March 2024 - Alice Hardinge, state campaign manager for the Wilderness Society Tasmania, says it is increasingly clear that some politicians are prepared to ignore people who cared about nature, but Tasmanians ultimately expected the state’s “precious places” to be protected.

“What is at stake is worth far more than cheap politics.”

18 March 2024 - The NSW government passed a bill that will ban offshore oil and gas in its coastal waters, making it the first Australian state to do so.

Victoria Jack, Campaigns Manager for the Wilderness Society NSW, said, "It’s not so long ago that a legislated ban on offshore oil and gas mining would have seemed unimaginable.

“The fact that we are here now shows that a better future is possible when governments are accountable to the community instead of the fossil fuel lobby."

16 March 2024 - Fern Cadman, Fossil Fuel Industry campaigner for Wilderness Society, says the government must regulate petroleum producers and not just rubber stamp their activities.

“The current rules for community consultation are exactly what the offshore fossil fuel industry called for and were given by the former Coalition government,” Cadman says.

“But now that First Nations people and communities are exercising their right to a fair say about oil and gas projects that will impact them, those very same companies want the current government to rewrite the rules.”

13 March 2024 - Court proceedings revealed that state-owned logging agency VicForests would wind up on 30 June 2024.

Matt Landolfo, Campaigns Manager for Wilderness Society Victoria, said, "The end of VicForests is a welcome and necessary step towards the protection and restoration of Victoria’s globally-significant native forests. But, the restoration task left in VicForests’ wake is huge."

10 March 2024 - During the summer of 2022/23 Billy Rowe eagerly watched and photographed a flock of critically endangered swift parrots congregating in a remote Tasmanian forest slated for logging. Now, one year on, the forest has been destroyed by the state owned logging agency Forestry Tasmania, despite the threatened status of the birds.

"It is no secret that habitat destruction is the biggest threat to the swift parrot right now. If we do not protect forests like this now, this iconic parrot will swiftly become extinct,” said Alice Hardinge, Campaigns Manager for Wilderness Society Tasmania.

6 March 2024 - New analysis shows more than 2m hectares of bushland in Queensland that included large swathes of possible koala habitat has been cleared over a five-year period.

Wilderness Society Queensland campaign manager, Hannah Schuch, said deforestation in Queensland was driving biodiversity loss.

“It’s having an impact on iconic native species like the koala, the greater glider, the red goshawk, it’s tearing down their homes and pushing them towards extinction."

29 February 2024 - Wilderness Society campaigner Alice Hardinge says Tasmania's Liberal government's promising to expand native forest logging is not good enough, especially in the middle of an election campaign.

She says all 356,000ha have been independently assessed and found to have extremely high conservation values. Voters deserve to know which of the more than 250 parcels that make up the area will be targeted.

22 February 2024 - Proposed reforms to Australia’s national environment law still include loopholes that must be closed if the reforms are to actually protect nature from mass deforestation.

"The draft laws, as currently written, are simply not strong enough to protect nature from needless destruction. Science demands, and the community expects, nature laws that work— including by stopping deforestation. And delivering these laws is well within Labor’s grasp," said Sam Szoke-Burke, Biodiversity and Campaign Policy Manager for the Wilderness Society,

22 February 2024 - The Wilderness Society, Environmental Justice Australia, and Environment Centre Northern Territory say that the draft national environment laws do not go far enough to stop large-scale deforestation for agriculture and mining developments, or explicitly reference the need to halt the decline in threatened species, which has accelerated.

11 February 2024 - The NSW government has announced that it will move to legislate a ban on offshore oil and gas exploration and infrastructure.

"This legislation is a real opportunity to secure the gas-free coastline that NSW wants and deserves. After years of overwhelming opposition to PEP-11, we are hopeful that parliament will support the bill and we can finally say goodbye to the threat of fossil fuels off the NSW coast," Wilderness Society NSW Campaigns Manager Victoria Jack said.

10 January 2024 - Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has blocked a proposal to build a wind turbine assembly plant at the Port of Hastings in Victoria due to unacceptable environmental impacts on the Western Port Ramsar wetland. The Wilderness Society welcomes this decision from Minister Plibersek, who said in her rejection that the plant would cause “irreversible damage to the habitat of waterbirds and migratory birds and marine invertebrates and fish”.

22 December 2023 - Ending the year with a significant victory, the Queensland government announced that the Lake Eyre Basin will be protected from future oil and gas exploration following eight years of commitments from the Labor government. Hannah Schuch, Wilderness Society Queensland Campaigns Manager said the Premier "should be proud of the milestone, given he was Environment Minister in 2015 when the initial commitment was made."

14 December 2023 - More and more banks across the globe are committing to rein in financing deforestation - and now Westpac has joined them, becoming the first bank in Australia to announce a zero-deforestation target. Under the pressure of legislation and voluntary initiatives, it’s only a matter of time before other Australian banks and investors will need to confront their deforestation impacts, writes Adele Chasson, Corporate Campaigner for the Wilderness Society.

13 December 2023 - Over the coming decades in Australia, more than $60 billion in oil and gas cleanup will need to happen.

"If gas and oil companies aren't made to pay right now, it's you and I (and our children) who will," said Wilderness Society Fossil Fuel Industry Campaigner, Fern Cadman.

12 December 2023 - The WA government has announced changes to state environment laws that would fast track approvals.

"Removing appeal rights offered to the public under the Environment Protection Act is a serious concern for access to justice for communities, and for nature," campaign manager Tim Clifford said.

6 December 2023 - The federal government has passed the Nature Repair Market Bill. Although it now excludes offsetting provisions, it cannot be relied upon alone to stop biodiversity decline and extinctions.

National Campaigns Director for the Wilderness Society, Amelia Young, said "Properly enforcing the current EPBC Act is the action we expect the Government to be taking right now, while also reforming Australia’s nature laws."

29 November 2023 - Protesters gathered outside QLD Parliament House in November to urge the government to protect the globally unique Channel Country from new oil and gas.

Wilderness Society QLD Campaign Manager, Hannah Schuch, said communities did not want to see natural and ecologically significant systems unnecessarily tarnished by exploration and fracking. “We want to see these protections enacted now, we can’t wait any longer."

24 November 2023 - In a 6 September letter to the environment minister, Australia’s major conservation organisations, including the Wilderness Society, expressed concern about some of the reforms under consideration and a lack of urgency around the reform.

22 November 2023 - A NSW parliamentary committee has released its report on their inquiry into the Offshore Drilling and Associated Infrastructure Prohibition Bill 2023 which, if passed, would make NSW the first state to legislate a ban on offshore oil and gas mining. However, the committee recommended that the Bill should not be passed.

"We are disappointed by the findings of the committee. Coastal communities have been campaigning together for years to protect the NSW coastline from the PEP11 project, which would have significant impacts on our climate and marine life if it proceeds, and these communities deserve a gas-free coastline," Wilderness Society NSW Campaigns Manager Victoria Jack said.

18 November 2023 - In the NT, pastoral land clearing takes place with little environmental or cultural-heritage regulation.

Permits are reviewed by the Pastoral Land Board, but as Jenita Enevoldsen, Senior Campaigner for the Wilderness Society says, “There is a distinct lack of First Nations representation and environmental-science expertise on the Pastoral Land Board, which is concerning as they hold the power to decide on the approval of clearing permits across thousands of hectares of intact cultural landscapes.”

15 November 2023 - In November, Domino's began advertising it's range pizzas with meats slow-roasted over “Aussie Mountain ash woodchips”. Mountain ash ecosystems in Victoria’s central highlands are now listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as critically endangered on its Red List.

"Companies like Domino's have a responsibility to ensure they are not contributing to deforestation, and to be transparent about their supply chains," said Victorian Campaign Manager for the Wilderness Society, Matt Landolfo.

19 October 2023 - A statement, signed by the Wilderness Society, was delivered to federal environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, calling for better conservation funding to protect and restore nature, as well as improved transparency around the current environmental law reform process.

17 October 2023 - The federal government announced that draft environment reform would be rolled out for comment, but without public consultation.

Sam Szoke-Burke, Biodiversity Policy and Campaign Manager for the Wilderness Society said “No public consultations means that vested interests will be able to do their bidding behind closed doors with no oversight.”

5 October 2023 - Sixty Victorian NGOs wrote to the Victorian Premier and Treasurer, urging them to wind up the state-owned logging company, VicForests, due to its systematic failures and breach of public trust.

Wilderness Society Victoria Campaign Manager Matt Landolfo said it's time to "rebuild public trust, generate employment in the regions and work in partnership with traditional owners who have cared for country for millennia."

8 September 2023 - A recovery plan for swift parrot's was released on Threatened Species Day which does not require an end to the destruction of swift parrot habitat, despite identifying logging as a significant threat. Wilderness Society Tasmania Campaign Manager Tom Allen said the “weakness and meekness of the [recovery] plan’s protection measures show how damaging Regional Forest Agreements are for nature”.

24 August 2023 - A new report, commissioned by the Wilderness Society and prepared by EY, launched at this year's Investor Group on Climate Change Summit has shed light on the growing implications of deforestation and forest degradation risk for both Australian and European investors.

7 September 2023 - This Threatened Species Day, the federal government announced 48 more plant and animal species had been listed federally as threatened.

“This many species being added to the list in one go is a sign of widespread ecological collapse,” said Tim Beshara, Manager of Policy and Strategy for the Wilderness Society.

16 August 2023 - Footage of a centuries old tree, cut down and loaded onto the back of a truck, sparked outrage across the world.

Alice Hardinge, Campaigner for the Wilderness Society Tasmania, said “Forestry Tasmania says that it doesn't log giant trees. Yet every other week, Tasmanians see giant single-log loads on the back of trucks, and concerned citizens find giant stumps in public state forests.”

14 August 2023 - Earlier this year it was revealed that Alcoa's mining activities could render water from Perth's dams undrinkable. Documents obtained by the Wilderness Society via FOI were able to confirm that Water Corporation WA was of the view that Alcoa’s mining was a “very significant intergenerational risk to water quality and security of supply in drinking water catchments.”

1 August 2023 - In August, the Queensland government released it's report into land clearing, showing a 49 per cent reduction in 2020-21 from the previous year. However, more than 340,000 hectares of land were still cleared. 82 % of the cleared land was category X — land that has previously been cleared, and the only unregulated category.

Hannah Schuch, Queensland Campaign Manager for the Wilderness Society said category X should also be covered by the legislation and that it is it is key habitat for koalas.

12 July 2023 - We are in a biodiversity crisis on par with the climate crisis. Yet, the federal government continues to trip itself up on environmental law reform.

Instead of trade-offs and market solutions, the Albanese government must focus on doing the work to protect nature and enabling the community and First Nations peoples to have a fair say in decisions that affect them, says the Wilderness Society's Biodiversity Policy & Campaign Manager Sam Szoke-Burke.

6 July 2023 - The Karajia Award celebrates and recognises the important message of First Nations authors and illustrators, who share stories exploring land, community, culture and language. Mamamia explores nine of their favourite shortlisted Karajia Award books!

20 June 2023 - In June, mining company Alcoa yesterday announced a large exclusion zone around Dwellingup, WA that would see the region’s ancient jarrah forests and wildlife protected from future mining interests—however the region was not earmarked for mining to begin with and unfortunately the announcement is simply another case of corporate greenwashing.

Campaign manager for Wilderness Society WA, Tim Clifford, said "Repackaging inaction as environmental conservation is simply not enough."

13 June 2023 - On the same day that the state of Victoria announced native forest logging would end within a year, the Northern Territory government officially rolled out the red carpet to large-scale cotton irrigators and beef producers, to expand land clearing and deforestation across 100,000 hectares.

Wilderness Society senior campaigner Jenita Enevoldsen explores why new national environment laws are so critical for NT's tropical savanna.

10 June 2023 - Documents obtained via FOI have revealed the Federal Government significantly downplayed the impact of Australia’s deforestation activities at a crucial global agriculture minister’s conference in Berlin earlier this year.

Wilderness Society federal policy director Tim Beshara said “The only way to fix it is to fix it. That is to turn around the decline in nature. Not to try it on with definitional games and spin.”

10 June 2023 - The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area is the world’s highest-rated World Heritage wilderness, but it is threatened by unwelcome tourism developments.

27 May 2023 - Although Victoria has declared an end to native forest logging, the same cannot yet be said for Tasmania. Tom Allen, campaign manager for Wilderness Society Tasmania, says "The rest of the country is transitioning forwards.

The industry in Tasmania is basically asking the taxpayer to fund it transitioning backwards and we can't afford to go backwards."

23 May 2023 - In May, the Victorian government announced an end to native forest logging in 2024.

National Campaigns Director for the Wilderness Society, Amelia Young, says “living, breathing, intact forests” are our best safeguard against the climate crisis.