2025-08-04
The ACT Greens have condemned the Federal Labor Government for pushing the critically endangered Canberra Grassland Earless Dragon towards extinction, following news today that the Environment Minister has given the green light for the Canberra Airport Northern Road development to go ahead.
Deputy Leader of the ACT Greens Jo Clay said that despite the community’s best efforts, with hundreds of people backing calls to save the critically endangered Canberra Grassland Earless Dragon, Labor has once again chosen the interests of business over people and planet.
"The approval of the Northern Road at Canberra Airport is a blow to the community and sends a message that our Federal Government does not care about nature," said ACT Greens Deputy Leader Jo Clay.
"The offsets and conditions in this road development approval are an attempt to buy the goodwill of the community in exchange for habitat degradation, the annihilation of one of our local critters and potentially the uplisting of many other species who live in temperate grasslands.
“The reality is there are very few patches of this habitat in Australia. Let’s be clear - the impacts on the dragons and grassland habitat are entirely avoidable, and not compensated for by the conditions attached to the development.
“We call on the ACT Labor Government to use all compensation funding from the road development to protect remaining natural temperate grassland habitat - otherwise there will be nowhere left in the wild to reintroduce dragons from the breeding program.
"Hundreds of Canberrans wrote to the current Environment Minister, the former Environment Minister and all Independent and Labor Parliamentarians for the ACT, urging them to help save the dragons and stop the road. For the few that actually responded, they insisted they care about the environment.
"But actions speak louder than words - and it's not a one off, it’s a trend. The Federal Labor Government has time and time again sided with corporations over the very people and planet they were elected to stand up for.
"In the three months since the election - and despite Labor claiming Australia voted for climate action and protecting the environment - they've approved the climate-wrecking extension of the dirty gas North West Shelf facility to 2070 and are now pushing the Earless Dragon towards extinction.
“Our national environmental laws have been failing for years - Labor threw in the towel last term to reform our systems and genuinely put people and the planet ahead of vested interests.
“Now we've seen the Canberra Earless Dragon added to their failures of no new extinctions, right behind Tassie’s Maugean Skate casualty thanks to Labor backing the dirty salmon industry.
“The ACT Greens are calling on the Federal Government to fix broken environmental laws before we see more native animals lost to Labor constantly choosing business over people and nature.”
BACKGROUND:
- The Northern Road Development was granted approval in 2009 under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, subject to varied conditions. These conditions were set without any consultation with the ACT Government. A Grassland Earless Dragon Recovery Team was responsible for implementing a Recovery Plan at that time. They advised the road would have minimal impact on the population if it went around the core habitat area.
- In 2023 the Canberra Grassland Earless Dragon was uplisted to ‘critically endangered’ - the last stop before extinction. The former ACT Greens Environment Minister and community secured a commitment from Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to reconsider protections for the earless dragon before this road progresses.
- The ACT Government 2024-25 budget included funding for emergency response measures to rescue the Canberra Earless Dragon from extinction.
- Construction was first reported by the media on Monday 24 February 2025. In these articles, Canberra Airport Group are reported to have agreed to pause a section of road construction that bisects the largest area of intact grassland habitat.
- Following news coverage, the ACT Greens contacted both Minister Plibersek’s office and the Canberra Airport Group on 25 February 2025. This was followed up with a formal letter to Minister Plibersek on Wednesday 5 March 2025. To date, there has been no response.
- The ACT Greens formally wrote to the ACT Chief Minister and ACT Environment Minister on Sunday 2 March 2025 seeking urgent action to elevate the issue with their Federal counterparts and ensure the Canberra Airport Road does not make a species extinct.
- The Australian Greens wrote to Minister Plibersek on Thursday 6 March 2025 calling for the Minister to intervene and revoke the road development.
- The ACT Greens were alerted on Thursday 13 March 2025 that construction has recommenced on the road. Ms Clay visited the site and confirmed construction vehicles operating on Friday 14 March 2025.
- The ACT Greens met with the Canberra Airport Group on Thursday 1 May to hear their plans for the road, its purpose and review their environmental studies on site. Following the Greens meeting, the Canberra Airport Group also met with local ecologists.
- The 2025-26 ACT Budget invested $4.5m into breeding programs for the Canberra Earless Dragon and temperate grassland habitat restoration.
- On 22 May the ACT Greens wrote to the new Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt expressing the community’s grave concerns about the proposed development of the Northern Road at the Canberra Airport precinct and urged him to uphold his government’s commitment of no new extinctions and ensure no further work is undertaken on the site until there is evidence showing the proposed mitigation measures work. A response was received on Tuesday 29 July.
- The approval decision is dated Wednesday 30 July and was uploaded to the EPBC Act Public Portal on Friday 1 August.