BirdLife Australia in the media: April

BirdLife Australia in the media: April 2024

Find out more about our bird conservation work around the country with our monthly multimedia round-up.

1. Tanya Plibersek’s proposal to save Toondah Harbour is a win for both threatened species and people power (the Guardian)

Judith Hoyle, Chair of the Toondah Alliance and BirdLife Australia board member, has been fighting to save Queensland’s Toondah Harbour since 2015. In this op-ed for the Guardian, she reflects on the nine year campaign to stop Walker Corporation from developing these internationally significant wetlands – and what Minister for the Environment Tanya Plibersek’s proposed decision to reject Walker’s proposal meant to those on the frontline.

2. Conservation science observers welcome EPA, but concerned about delays to law reform (Cosmos Magazine)

In April, conservation groups welcomed Minister Plibersek’s announcement of legislation to create two new agencies – a Federal Environment Protection Australia agency and a second organisation called Environment Information Australia – but were left disappointed by Labor’s indefinite delay of their commitment to rewrite national environment law. Cosmos Magazine spoke to BirdLife Australia’s Head of Science and Conservation Sam Vine about what the announcement means for bird conservation in Australia – and where to from here.

3. ‘Not the only birder in the village’: how citizen science is the bedrock of tackling species loss (the Guardian)

Our National Public Affairs Manager Sean Dooley spoke with the Guardian about the conservation benefits of citizen science – and how we can all help make a difference.

4. Anger as trigger pulled on Victorian duck hunting season (Bendigo Advertiser)

As of Wednesday 10 April, it’s open season in Victoria – following the Victorian Government’s deeply disappointing decision to ignore the recommendations of its own parliamentary inquiry and allow recreational duck hunting to continue in the state in 2024.

Birds in the media:

• *Inside Tanya Plibersek’s delay in fixing ‘broken’ environment laws (The Age)
• Bulldozers in Darwin begin destroying habitat of hundreds of bird species as Lee Point/Binybara construction begins (The Guardian)
• Australia’s long-sought stronger environmental laws just got indefinitely deferred. It’s back to business as usual (The Conversation)
• For the first time in decades, the elusive call of the ‘bunyip bird’ returns to Tasmania’s Lagoon of Islands (The Guardian)
• Toondah development in Queensland has been shelved, but it doesn’t mean other wetlands are safe (ABC News)
• The aggressive native birds muscling rivals out of Melbourne (The Age)
• Tree of Life for modern birds revealed (University of Sydney)
• Old SA cattle property purchased to protect Endangered Malleefowl (ABC News)

*Behind paywall

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