Victoria’s Auditor General condemns the Victorian Government’s abysmal record on species protection

Mr. Brumby has claimed that a damning report by the Auditor-General on the mismanagement of endangered species in Victoria is a “pat on the back” for the government.

In fact the report reveals that departments responsible for environmental management are so under resourced that at the current rates of progress it would take 22 years just to write action statements for the management of species and ecosystems which are currently listed as threatened in Victoria. (And to implement them? By the time the action statements are written it will be too late anyway!) It furthermore finds that "the government's lack of baseline data or output performance measures means that it is not possible to conclude whether or not the Act has achieved its primary objectives. The available data, which is patchy, indicates that it has not." It also notes failure to use the conservation and control measures in the Act, inadequate listing of threatened species, failure to develop action statements, or to monitor their implementation and assess their effectiveness. Also penalties for offences under the Act have not been reviewed or updated and therefore are not an effective deterrent.

The Auditor General's media statement (tabled on April Fools Day 2009) reads as follows:

A Victorian Auditor-General’s report, tabled today, has found that the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 no longer provides an effective framework for the conservation and protection of Victoria’s native flora and fauna.

The report reveals:

• ‘significant changes and challenges have arisen that the legislation did not foresee’.
• ‘The Act is therefore no longer effectively leading measurable conservation and protection activities for the state.’

Auditor-General, Mr Des Pearson said it was impossible to determine whether the Act was achieving its main objectives because there was no comprehensive, reliable information available, either as baseline data or as outcome and output performance measures

The audit found that:

• Despite considerable effort on the part of the Department of Sustainability and Environment, which now administers the Act, in listing threatened species, the department has not met its own time lines.
• ‘At the current rate of progress it would take another 22 years to develop action statements for all listed items’, the report revealed.
• ‘The effort directed to listing threatened species and processes has not been matched by efforts to develop action statements, monitor them, or assess their effectiveness’.
• Action statements are the key tool to manage threatened species, but the gap between listed items and items with action statements continues to widen.

The report made several recommendations, including the need for the department to

• Build on its existing knowledge about threatened species,
• Causes of their decline and how best to mitigate threats to them, and
• The need to formalise its collaboration on conservation activity with the federal government and seek a joint agreement to eliminate duplication in the listing process.

It also recommended that the department should:

• Establish a prioritised action plan to address the backlog of listed items with no action statements;
• Review the efficacy of conservation and protection tools available under the Act and amend it to deliver more contemporary tools;
• Assess whether the listing process is the most effective and efficient means of protecting species and communities;
• And develop a suite of output efficiency and outcome effectiveness measures to monitor and assess its conservation efforts.

Report documents

• The Auditor general's Media statement (PDF)
• Report summary (HTML)
• The report in brief (PDF 730KB)
• The full report (PDF 730KB)

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