Matthew McConaughey honours local Australian heroes

Matthew McConaughey has honoured local Australian heroes for keeping the public healthy and protecting the wildlife during last year’s bushfires.

By Jabeen Waheed, Daily Mail Australia. 23 Nov 2020.

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Water from Murray-Darling Basin plan not being delivered to wetlands, Australian-first report finds

The majority of environmental water redirected from irrigators under the $13 billion Murray-Darling Basin Plan isn’t being delivered to its intended wetland targets, with private land blocking the connections between rivers and floodplains, new research shows.

By Michael Slezak, ABC News. 17 Nov 2020.

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A lesson for humanity from 17 Million doomed creatures

It was the photo of the mink in Denmark, soon to be slaughtered, that hit me the hardest. In it, the animals peer from their cages with open curiosity, ears pricked forward, clever fingers grasping the wire of the cage doors …

By Margaret Renkl, The New York Times. 16 Nov 2020.

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State of the Climate 2020 shows Australia is experiencing climate change now

The Bureau of Meteorology and the CSIRO have teamed up for the latest biannual report on the climate, and the findings are clear: Australia is experiencing climate change now, and the warming trend is continuing.

By Kate Doyle and Clint Jasper, ABC Weather. 13 Nov 2020.

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Purple swamphen and eastern long-necked turtle re-emerge in parts of Shoalhaven

A unique bird is making a comeback on the New South Wales south coast after being elusive in parts of the region for almost 40 years.

By Ainslie Drewitt Smith and Melinda James, ABC News. 11 Nov 2020.

Victorian ecovillage The Cape sees nearly 100 bird species take up residence

Residents in a regional Victorian housing development are reporting nearly 100 bird species living in their neighbourhood, which the developers and experts say is evidence the project has helped biodiversity.

By Jim Mao, Domain. 20 Oct 2020

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Sulphur-crested cockatoos can be noisy and destructive, but they’re also very clever

Here are some facts you may not know.

By Anna Salleh, ABC Science. 18 October 2020

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Australia needs a new agency to monitor threatened species, top scientists say

The federal government should establish a new agency similar to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) to observe and make forecasts on the state of Australia’s wildlife, according to leading Australian scientists.

By Lisa Cox, The Guardian. 14 October 2020

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How maverick re-wilders are trying to turn back the tide of extinction

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‘Major gaps’: no state meets national environment standards

State and territory governments should make major reforms to their environmental laws and increase compliance regimes to meet the national standards, new research has found.

The findings are revealed in a report from the “Places You Love” alliance of conservation groups, released on Monday, which found “not only does no state or territory law meet national standards, but in some jurisdictions, the environmental protections in state and territory laws have actually been weakened”.

By Mike Foley, The Sydney Morning Herald. 4 October 2020

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It’s all about this

Property developer complained to John Barilaro about NSW koala protection policy

By Ben Smee and Anne Davies, The Guardian. 16 September 2020

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‘We are relying on a pinky promise’: The problem with the Government moving its environmental powers to states

As the NSW Government descends into chaos over koala protections, the Federal Government is in a scramble trying to hand over its environmental powers to the states.

Just over a month ago — perhaps an eternity in the political news cycle — Environment Minister Sussan Ley welcomed a landmark review into our national environment laws by reaching across the aisle.

By Michael Slezak, ABC News. 13 September 2020.

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Blood sports favoured — in British Royal child-rearing it’s traditional

… learning to chase animals and kill them, as Prince George is also doing, age seven? Reports suggest this veteran — he started at five — has again joined his family on a grouse shoot near Balmoral.

By Catherine Bennett, The Guardian. 6 September 2020

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WWF report finds 71pc decline in koala numbers across northern NSW bushfire-affected areas

The study was commissioned by the WWF (previously known as World Wildlife Fund) for Nature Australia and chief executive Dermot O’Gorman said the findings are devastating.

By Kirstie Wellauer and Kerrin Thomas, ABC News. 6 September 2020

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Australia’s environment minister orders investigation into export of hundreds of endangered parrots

The environment minister, Sussan Ley, has appointed an auditor to investigate her own department over the export of hundreds of native and endangered parrots to Germany over a three-year period.

By Lisa Cox, The Guardian. 4 September 2020.

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Crossbenchers furious after Government shuts down debate on environmental protection laws

The Federal Government has been compared to the North Korean autocracy by furious crossbench MPs, who were denied a chance to speak on environment laws in Parliament this afternoon.

The Government used its numbers this evening to pass legislation that would streamline environmental approval processes by handing powers from federal authorities to states and territories.

By Jordan Hayne, ABC News. 4 September 2020.

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Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards ceremony goes digital

Most of us humans have spent a fair bit of time at home lately.

But while we’ve all been inside, the animal kingdom’s circle of life keeps on turning — and some of the beauty of it has been captured by talented snappers in this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

By ABC News. 3 September 2020.

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Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research study finds honeybee venom rapidly kills aggressive breast cancer cells

Venom from honeybees has been found to rapidly kill aggressive and hard-to-treat breast cancer cells, according to potentially groundbreaking new Australian research.

By Nicolas Perpitch, ABC News. 1 September 2020.