Almost nine in 10 Australians (87 per cent) are worried wildlife species are at risk of extinction unless something is done now to protect natural habitats following the bushfires, new polling shows.
The survey of 1,024 Australian adults, conducted by YouGov in March for the Places You Love alliance, gauging post-bushfire views about nature, found:
- Almost nine in 10 say unless something is done now to protect natural habitats following the bushfires, wildlife species are at risk of extinction (87 per cent).
- Most Australians believe the government should invest more in the recovery of Australia’s wildlife and their natural habitats (84 per cent).
- Most believe the Federal Government is doing a poor job of protecting the country’s forests, rivers and wildlife (57 per cent).
- Eight in ten Coalition voters agree the Government should be doing significantly more to protect and restore wildlife (82 per cent) and forests and natural landscapes (81 per cent).
- Most Australians (64 per cent) and even the majority of Coalition voters (57 per cent) believe environment laws should be strengthened.
- Two-thirds of Australians agree there should be a complete end to logging of native tress in Australia to facilitate a faster recovery following the bushfires (66 per cent). This includes the majority living in regional areas.
“With a review of the national environment legislation underway it is worth noting that a majority of Australians believe our environment laws should be stronger,” said the Australian Conservation Foundation’s Basha Stasak.
“Australians truly care about our wildlife and precious natural places – people are rightly concerned the same laws that allowed spiralling deforestation and extinction rates won’t help forests and communities recover from last summer’s bushfires,” said The Wilderness Society’s Suzanne Milthorpe.
“Birds and other wildlife need our help more than ever after the summer bushfires and Australians want the Federal Government to ensure remaining habitat is protected,” said BirdLife Australia’s Samantha Vine.
“Australians want our wildlife and special places to be protected by strong environment laws – we urge the Government to heed this polling to ensure greater protection for Australia’s iconic wildlife,” said Humane Society International’s Alexia Wellbelove.
Places You Love is made up of more than 50 environment groups and organisations with a combined supporter base of more than one million Australians.
