The Northern Territory’s nature is world-class and under threat.
From Kakadu to Uluru and Litchfield, there’s no doubt the Territory has some of Australia’s best nature. In the NT, we are so lucky to have the world’s largest intact tropical savanna woodlands right on our doorsteps.
But this incredible national treasure is being bulldozed, piece by piece, with almost no federal oversight. It is being cleared for cotton and industrial agriculture, without scrutiny, and largely ignored by the federal government.
Right now, bulldozers are destroying what we love.
Last year alone the NT's Pastoral Land Board approved more than 36,000 hectares of deforestation – not a single hectare undergoing environmental impact assessment. Research shows that on average, any deforestation event in the Northern Territory affects the mapped distribution of at least twelve federally listed threatened species.
The Northern Territory is the only place in Australia without specific land clearing laws. All this deforestation is waved through by the Pastoral Land Board (PLB). Made up primarily of pastoralists and a cotton lobbyist, the PLB is the fox in charge of the hen house. Habitat for rare ghost bats, northern quolls, Gouldian finches and the elusive red goshawk is all approved for destruction by a PLB that exists to serve industry, not protect nature.
But the Territory’s nature is worth protecting.
After years of fighting, we forced the owners of Claravale Station on the banks of the Daly River to refer their deforestation plans to the federal government – the first time in NT history. It was a hard-won, historic moment. When these plans were still waved through at the federal level, and still without environmental assessment, we were devastated.
The Albanese Government must do its job and defend the Territory's nature.
It showed us the fight isn't over. Australia's new nature laws are only as strong as the Minister willing to enforce them. We need Murray Watt to step up — to call in deforestation, to set strong national environmental standards, and to make sure the cowboy culture of bulldozing in the NT stops for good.
Together, we can protect what makes the Territory so special and unique. Our nature.
Add your name to our petition calling on Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt to call in deforestation for assessment, for strong National Environmental Standards underpinning our new nature laws, and to stop fast-tracking land clearing approvals.