21 July 2026
The Nature Conservation Council of NSW (NCC), the state's peak environmental advocacy organisation, is calling for urgent protection of native bushland after Government data released today shows land clearing rates remain out of control.
The NSW Minns Government was elected with a promise to rein in land clearing by reforming our nature protection laws. Years have gone by and habitat clearing loopholes remain open, allowing the destruction of vital native plant species and critical habitat for our state's threatened wildlife.
More than 80,000 hectares of native vegetation was cleared in 2024, and the state's relentless land clearing rates remain stubbornly high.
NCC CEO Jacqui Mumford says new data shows current nature laws continue to fail, with disturbing consequences.
Quotes attributed to Nature Conservation Council NSW CEO Jacqui Mumford:
"Since colonisation, more than 60% of NSW's original native vegetation has been cleared, thinned or significantly disturbed - and many native plants have been lost altogether.
"Land clearing remains too high for the health of habitat and biodiversity.
"The government's data now shows more than half a million hectares of native vegetation has been cleared since the Native Vegetation Act was scrapped in 2017.
"More alarming, public registers show more than three million hectares of native vegetation is at risk of clearing under existing pre-approvals. This is a ticking time-bomb."
"The Minns Labor Government promised to fix conservation and land clearing laws as part of their 2023 election commitments, yet nothing has changed. Where's the new and improved conservation laws the Minns Labor Government promised at the last election?
"Our current nature laws continue to fail. Habitat destruction remains stubbornly high, all while our native species are vanishing.
"We know habitat clearing is one of the biggest drivers of biodiversity loss in NSW, but we're still seeing broadscale land clearing happening on private land where vulnerable native wildlife live.
"We need new laws that put nature first."
In 2024, so-called 'Invasive Native Species' clearing represented 61% of all authorised clearing on rural regulated land.
"We now know what is behind broadscale land clearing in NSW and it's a nonsense classification unique to NSW. The 'invasive native species' provision is a political construct with no scientific basis, but it allows iconic species like the Coolabah tree and river red gum to be cleared on a large scale for agriculture.
"The Minns Government committed to stop excess land clearing. To do so, the NSW Government must remove the 'INS' list as an immediate priority.
"Scientists predict NSW will lose nearly 500 wildlife species to extinction within the next century. As it stands, we remain in that trajectory, and so much more needs to be done to protect nature - the time is now."
Mumford says the data released today shows NSW's environmental laws are still too weak.
"The rate at which native vegetation is being destroyed in NSW remains unacceptable.
"We're calling on Premier Chris Minns to do as promised, strengthen habitat protection laws, and close loopholes allowing critical habitat to be clear-felled.
"We urgently need nature laws that are strong, enforceable, and put the environment first, or there'll be no more trees left to clear."
NCC's key asks for the NSW Government:
- Deliver strong and decisive reforms to the Biodiversity Conservation Act, and delivery the Nature Strategy, ensuring high conservation values across public and private land are always afforded the highest protection;
- Align NSW legislation with recent changes to the federal laws that ensures vegetation older than 15 years is considered by conservation laws;
- Ensure changes are accompanied by resources and support for landholders to deliver and benefit from the changes, including doubling the capacity of LLS natural capital team;
- Fix the local land services regulations that continue to be the largest enabler of clearing, removing high risk codes like "INS" provisions that enable broadscale clearing.
Background:
- Overall clearing rates have increased despite Labor's election promise to stop excess land clearing
- 81,000 hectares of native vegetation was cleared in 2024, a 15.8% increase from 2023
- When segregated by woody and non-woody vegetation clearing:
- Woody clearing was more than 24,000 hectares (lower than 2023)
- Non-woody clearing was over 57,000 hectares (higher than 2023)
- At the 2023 state election the Labor Government made commitments to: 'stop excess land clearing, strengthen environmental protections and reform the biodiversity offset scheme'. These commitments are also articulated in the Plan for Nature.
- Clearing native vegetation directly kills and displaces native animals. Over time, the effects of habitat fragmentation and disturbance can lead to invasion by weeds and further deteriorate the condition and habitat values of the remnant vegetation.
- According to the latest NSW State of the Environment Report report cards, of the 1000 plant and animal species listed as threatened in NSW only 50% are predicted to be living within 100 years' time (i.e. 500 species will be extinct in 100 years).
