Thursday, 18 June 2026

 Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (03:45): (2610) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Environment and relates to the to the destruction of swift parrot habitat. The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action is currently carrying out a tree-felling operation on Scrubby Road near Rushworth as part of strategic fire access roadworks in an area that is a key biodiversity area, or KBA, for the critically endangered swift parrot. KBAs are globally significant sites for conservation. Those sites meet strict international conservation criteria and assist the Australian government to meet its obligations to international treaties such as the Convention on Biological Diversity. Activities that degrade or destroy KBA values are considered internationally significant impacts, not just local disturbances. Felling primary swift parrot feed trees inside a KBA is not just environmentally harmful, it is considered an internationally significant damage operation. DEECA have suggested that as this current operation only involves the removal of approximately 30 trees, the works are not likely to have a significant impact, assessing the project in isolation and therefore not referring it under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. This is, however, just the most recent in a series of destructive operations within the KBA. In 2023 DEECA allowed an operation that involved the felling and poisoning of thousands of swift parrot feed trees and ripping the roots of thousands of those not felled. Around this time, they also carried out a major roadwork project involving large primary swift parrot feed tree removals on Heathcote-North Costerfield Road. The action I seek is for the minister to explain why DEECA’s self-assessment did not consider other recent habitat destruction, particularly considering the EPBC act’s significant impact guidelines require assessment of the context of an action, including existing levels of impact from other sources.