Environmental issues have certainly lost their shine of late as a national or global topic, replaced by stories of war and destruction. Yes, we may be living in a poignant moment in time where a Trump America aims to undermine the international system, which includes the system that develops and defines environmental international standards. For example, Trump’s America recently pulled out of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The IUCN sets the standards for protected area planning, and assessment of species extinction risks, which informs international and domestic policymaking.[1] And, yes, national and state nature law reforms will likely fall short of what is required for Australia to meet its global commitments to the Convention on Biological Diversity. However, I believe there is hope. It’s about remembering the golden age of Australia’s environmental law and being persistent with our activism and, most importantly, being patient — waiting for another golden moment to seize the opportunity for progressive reform.
Warwick Pearse, Convenor NPA Landscape Conservation Forum
In August 2025 the New South Wales Government announced the purchase of three large pastoral properties in north-west NSW. Bellenbar, Iona and Innisfail Stations will be added to the national parks estate. In December 2025 the government announced the purchase of two more properties in the same region, Tasman and Corinya, with the support of The Nature Conservancy and their partnership with the Wyss Foundation.
Ella Magee-Carr and Andrew Wong, Wilderness Australia
Proposed native forest logging could devastate Glenbog State Forest, one of the last true strongholds of the endangered Southern Greater Glider on the NSW South Coast.
The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a unique, semi-aquatic Australian mammal and one of only five living monotreme species on earth. We have constructed dams in over 40% of the sub-catchments in which platypus are present.
Eastern Quolls are endangered and have been extinct on the Australian mainland since 1963 – the only wild population is in Tasmania! Despite the quoll’s camouflage (see Nature Kids Winter 2024), key threats to quolls are predators like feral cats and foxes.
At the end of January 2026, four Eastern Quoll joeys were released at Bannockburn Rewilding Sanctuary on the NSW South Coast. They join 15 other quolls released in 2025 as part of the Invasive Species Council’s Rewilding Australia conservation program.
Researchers are monitoring the newly-released quolls using GPS technology to track their movements, survival and ecological impact. Their findings will guide future rewilding efforts in the hope that Eastern quolls can one day survive in NSW beyond predator-free fenced environments.
Watch a video of the young quolls being released
Wombat poo mysteries revealed
Fact: Wombat poo is square and comes out that way because of the shape and structure of a wombat’s lower intestine.
But did you know that wombats use their poo to communicate with eachother?! This is called “olfactory communication”.
In research recently published in the Journal of Zoology, scientists found that bare nosed wombats have a “vomeronasal organ”, sometimes described as a second (internal) nose, which they use to detect pheromones and other chemicals for social cues, mating, and predator or prey detection. Wombat scats/droppings are individually distinct, and scientists think that’s probably how these short-sighted animals tell each other apart!
The Australian Conservation Foundation’s Extinction Wrapped 2025 report found that more than 57,000 hectares of threatened species habitat was approved for land clearing by the Australian Government in 2025 – that’s the highest level of destruction in 15 years and10 times the area of Sydney Harbour! According to the report, two-thirds of that area was approved for clearing by the mining industry.
Author: Iain McCalman Publisher: NewSouth Publishing Reviewed by Anne Dickson and NPA Environmental Book Club
Iain McCalman, in ‘John Büsst: Bohemian artist and saviour of reef and rainforest’, engagingly narrates the life of a man whose artistic sensibility and creative exploitation of science and politics led to a successful collaborative crusade to protect wet tropics rainforest in Djiru Country, North Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef. The title of this book hints at a story in two parts. Büsst’s artistic creativity and craftsman skills were honed during his time living in artist communities outside Melbourne and in Bedarra Island off the Queensland coast near Tully. Then, after falling in love with the flourishing but threatened natural environment of North Queensland, Büsst spent the later part of his life successfully campaigning to protect rainforest and reef ecosystems.
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