Welcome to the new-look habitat. The format is different - designed to be explored rather than skimmed - but the heart of it hasn't changed. These are still stories about people who care deeply, generously shared with us.
This issue we walk through the ashes of Jim Billings' home in Victoria, hear from a family whose love of nature outlived them both, and sit with the people still fighting for a Jarrah forest that the science says can't be recovered once it's gone.
Paul Sinclair tells us what ten years of campaigning actually looks like from the inside, and we have a first word from our new CEO, Adam Bandt.
Grab a cuppa, sit back and enjoy.
Jim Billings returns to Upton Hill
Ten days after a bushfire destroyed his home, Jim walks through the ashes and asks the question none of us want to answer.
Sixty years of devastation; we are losing the Jarrah Forest
Alcoa's bauxite mining has been destroying critical black cockatoo habitat for six decades. Now it's been approved through to 2045.
A recipe for campaign success
Ten years. Dead in the water in December 2024. Resurrected. Historic. ACF's Director of Campaigns Paul Sinclair on how you win nature laws.
Read this storyIf you want to influence what change looks like, it gets hot in the kitchen. ”
— Paul Sinclair, ACF Director of Campaigns
It's going to get hot in the kitchen
- Community power generous amount
- First Nations wisdom foundational
- Stubborn optimism throughout
- Tolerance for heat in the kitchen
How landowners can help conserve biodiversity
Conservation covenants, citizen science, and the new Nature Repair Act — a practical guide for property owners.
We've failed young people for 30 years. Our new nature laws are their foundation
A farmer watches ribbon gums dying across Eastern Australia and refuses to look away.
Not every love story is about a person
Nature lovers from across Australia have been submitting their love letters to the places that hold a special place in their hearts.
Here are just a few.Kimberley. My skin is tingling as I start to type your name. What an incredible place you are. Magnificent in fact. Red dirt stretching off into the distance, majestic raptors circling way above the boabs far below. Splendid snakes basking on your dusty roads as the sun beats down whilst exquisite purple crowned fairywrens dart along your riverbanks chasing bugs for dinner.
I dream of your stunning waterholes and mind blowing natural places. I will never forget the first time I met you and saw the beauty of Dalmanyi (Bell Gorge). Red rock cliffs rising from your clear, clean, cold water that may or may not be hiding a freshie! To dive in at the end of a hot and tiring yet awe inspiring walk through your rugged landscape is heaven here on earth.
You are so old (and i mean that in a nice way!). Ancient in fact. Oh the stories you could tell. Kimberley, you revive me. You wash away the chaos and noise of the city in which I live. You make me love life and you inspire me to work for a better future where both people and nature thrive. You are simply the best.
A place holding memories. Moments of calm and peace, of joy and celebration. Saying I do surrounded by love and a gentle breeze. A quiet escape when the world was in lockdown. The sounds of the birds and my children playing.
The tides change with each visit exposing a new rock, a new experience, a new moment. Watching families share a meal, a dad teaching a son to fish, kids searching for crabs, splashing and laughing. I take deep breaths, dive under the water and this place brings me back to Earth.
I was at my worst, I did not want to move. Nothing could have brought me back to life the way you did.
Is Victoria to become the world’s quarry?
From One Tree Hill Road, Melbourne's CBD looks like Camelot. But beneath the bush, old gold mines are reopening.
Read moreThe ultimate gift for nature
Christine and Peter Fensham supported ACF for 35 years. Now their legacy lives on in a gift that will shape conservation for decades.
Read moreJack Toohey on rebellious hope
Author of Better Things Are PossibleHousing, climate, mental health, media - Jack Toohey's case for choosing hope over apathy, in his own words.
Read the full Q&AWhat would you say to people who feel overwhelmed by what's going on in the world?
Things are cooked (literally and figuratively). But the privilege of being able to live life and save all life on earth is pretty special. Feel better yet?
How would you like people to feel after reading the book?
I hope they find some new sense of resolve. Their belief in nature. Their belief in community. Their belief in humanity. Hope.
Let's not lose them is written for concerned people whose busy lives allow little access to the natural world. It invites readers to gain more awareness of the wonder and beauty of some of our fellow creatures now vulnerable or threatened, and of our actual dependence on them. Suggested are ways in which we can all, individually and collectively, engage with nature wherever we are.
Sue Ferris is a passionate nature lover and ACF supporter.The housing crisis, climate change, persistent gender inequity. A mounting mental health epidemic, a floundering media landscape, a political class that seems increasingly disconnected from voters ...
If you're feeling overwhelmed by the state of the world, you're not alone. But here's the thing: we created these systems, and so we can re-create them.
Better Things Are Possible is Jack Toohey's case for choosing hope over apathy. It's a rallying cry to replace defeatism with resilience and start channelling our energy into innovative solutions to the challenges we're facing.
We sat down with Jack to talk about hope, nature, and why he wrote a book that tackles housing, climate, mental health and media all at once.
Read the Q&AAri
Senior Content ProducerI was born between greatness, the Great Dividing Range and the Great Barrier Reef - Cairns, Far North Queensland.
Cairns is a place where the rainforest meets the sea and nature isn't something distant or abstract. It's simply part of everyday life.
Some of my earliest memories are of snorkelling over coral reefs, watching parrotfish crunch through coral gardens and drifting above giant clams. I was chased by Cassowary long before I could ever spell the name of this magnificent flightless bird.
I remember walking through national parks with disposable cameras, trying to capture birds, insects and anything else that moved.
Living in Cairns meant growing up surrounded by two World Heritage ecosystems. The reef and the rainforest weren't just beautiful places to visit. They shaped the way I saw the world. They taught me that nature is intricate, fragile and worth protecting.
Those early experiences sparked a lifelong fascination with wildlife and the natural world. Over time that curiosity grew into a passion for storytelling.
I became interested in how photography, journalism and digital media could help people see nature differently, not as scenery but as something alive, complex and deeply connected to our own lives.
Today my work focuses on telling stories about the environment and the people working to protect it.
Whether filming in coral reefs, forests or remote landscapes, I'm driven by the same feeling I had as a kid exploring the creeks and coastlines of Far North Queensland: a sense of wonder, and a belief that if people can see the beauty and importance of the natural world, they'll want to protect it too.