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The Guardian
17 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Queensland land clearing figures show state remains ‘deforestation capital of Australia', conservationists say
Forest and woodland across an area more than 1,000 times the size of the Sydney CBD was bulldozed in Queensland in 2022-23, newly published figures show, sparking warnings the state is escalating risks to endangered species and worsening climate change. Almost half (44%) of the 332,015 hectares of clearing was in Great Barrier Reef catchment areas, causing nutrient and sediment flow that puts additional pressure on corals already bleaching due to climate change. The state government land-clearing data for 2022-23, published this week, shows overall clearing was up 3% on the previous year. Of the clearing, 21% (70,799 hectares) was remnant woodland, meaning it had not been cleared before or that it resembled uncleared forest, an increase of 8%. Remnant vegetation is important for biodiversity and supports endangered species such as the koala and greater glider. Dave Copeman, the director of the Queensland Conservation Council, the state's peak conservation body, said the figures were 'shocking'. 'Queenslanders and international visitors alike would be distressed to learn that the Queensland government is allowing forests and woodlands to be bulldozed in the Great Barrier Reef catchment at an alarming rate, with over 140,000 hectares being cleared per year,' he said. 'This is devastating additional pressure on an already damaged Great Barrier Reef struggling to survive from repeated mass bleaching events. This clearing must stop.' Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton's Clear Air column as a free newsletter The Australian Conservation Foundation's Nathaniel Pelle said the figures showed Queensland 'remains the deforestation capital of Australia' and the government needed to tighten regulations. 'It is sadly no longer surprising to see big numbers coming out of Queensland when it comes to deforestation but what is most alarming is the jump in destruction of remnant forests and woodland, which is catastrophic for Queensland's wildlife and proves the state's vegetation management is not working,' he said. About 86% of the clearing (283,918ha) was for the expansion of pasture and 77% (254,647ha) was category X clearing, which means it did not require a permit under the state's vegetation management laws. The Brigalow and Mulga Lands regions were clearing hotspots. The figures show that 33,000 hectares of woodland and forest bulldozed was unexplained, which can include potentially unlawful clearing. According to the report, less than 1% (3,040ha) of the total area bulldozed was in places containing endangered ecosystems, but this was 21% more than the previous year, which Copeman said was 'distressing'. Sign up to Clear Air Australia Adam Morton brings you incisive analysis about the politics and impact of the climate crisis after newsletter promotion He said much of the pastoral clearing was also not being assessed for its environmental impact under Australia's nature laws and the council was calling on the federal environment minister, Murray Watt, to address this in upcoming reforms. Hannah Schuch, the Queensland campaigns manager at the Wilderness Society, said the state was the centre of Australia's land-clearing crisis and conversion of land for pasture was the main driver of the destruction. 'These aren't just stats. Bulldozing forests and bushland across the sunshine state kills species like the koala, red goshawk and greater glider, smothers the Great Barrier Reef with chemical and sediment pollution and worsens climate change,' she said. 'Forests and bushland in Queensland are quite literally the lungs of our state yet government and corporate inaction continues to deal them this destructive hand.' Release of the Queensland data follows the publication of New South Wales figures last week which revealed a 40% surge in land clearing across the state. Comment has been sought from the Queensland government.
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
Workplace gender segregation ‘a handbrake' on Australia's economy, major new pay gap report reveals
Major new research has found that men are paid more than women in 98% of occupations, with female workers in Australia typically paid 70 cents for every $1 earned by their male colleague after a decade in work. The 30% average pay gap across workplaces identified in Jobs and Skills Australia's new report stretches to nearly 40% for First Nations women. Megan Lilly, a JSA deputy commissioner, said the fact that men were paid more than women on average in almost all of the 688 occupations analysed in the landmark report was even more remarkable when considering the substantial range of workplaces where women dominate. Experts blame the persistent gender pay gap in large part on the 'motherhood penalty' – the phenomenon where Australian women's earnings drop by 55% in the five years after having their first child. A higher likelihood of returning to part-time rather than full-time work, and missed opportunities for promotion during time away, mean that penalty is only slightly improved 10 years after giving birth. Less than two weeks out from Jim Chalmers' economic reform roundtable, Lilly said 'politicians and policymakers need to grapple with these findings and find strategies and policies to deal with economic inequality'. 'Gender occupational segregation is actually a handbrake on our economy.' Sign up: AU Breaking News email More gender-balanced occupations tended to have more equal pay, but the research revealed these jobs were in a minority: only one in five Australian workers were in occupations with a relatively equal mix of men and women. The report also showed that gender segregation in Australian workplaces was proving stubborn to shift: in about seven in 10 occupations there had been no progress on gender balance in 15 years. Ambulance officers and paramedics, dentists, and barristers were roles that had become less male-dominated, while vets and school principals had moved from gender parity to moderately higher shares of women. But gender segregation was most acute in lower-skilled occupations, where there had been little change in the mix of men and women in a decade-and-a-half. While no occupation showed meaningfully higher pay for women over men, the report found that occupational pay gaps widen to be at their worst among the most segregated occupations – regardless of whether they were male- or female-dominated. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Female registered nurses, for example, were paid $89,720 on average, or 21% less than the $114,420 typically paid to their male peers. That's despite women accounting for 90% of that workforce and only working 10% fewer hours. Even in the case of childcare – where almost the entire workforce were women – men were typically paid 14% more: $56,240, versus $48,340, according to the JSA's analysis of Australian Taxation Office data. Amid a nationwide shortage of workers in key areas of the economy, the report also showed that the most gender segregated occupations – such as in blue collar construction, and 'pink' collar nursing and aged care – were also where these labour shortages were at their most acute. Lilly said essentially excluding half of the population from certain occupations was part of the problem. 'Gender segregation is exacerbating skill shortages, exacerbating the pay gap, and too many cohorts of women are disadvantaged. And this is all at the expense of a more inclusive and productive society,' she said. 'Fix segregation and you fix occupational shortages and gender pay gaps.'
Daily Mail
14 hours ago
- Daily Mail
I paid $450 for my passport and I'm not just angry at the state of it... but also at how it arrived in the mail: 'Are you kidding me?'
An Aussie has lashed out after forking out $450 for a new passport, only for it to be delivered in an envelope. Tilly McConnell claimed it was clear the Australian Passport Office was 'cutting costs on all corners', as she even noted the quality of the passport was questionable. 'I want to know who works at the Australian Passport Office and posts things out,' she said in a TikTok video. 'I recently got my passport and, are you kidding me. It came in this.' Ms McConnell showed how her expensive passport arrived in a simple paper envelope with no other protection. 'Do passports not get water damage now? I don't understand. It came in a normal envelope,' she said. 'And this is the quality of it. What the f***. My old passport is in better condition than this. Are you kidding me? Nope, I am p***ed off. 'My last one came in bubble wrap and everything. They're cutting costs on all corners.' Social media users said the lack of protection for such an important document was 'ridiculous' given it can't be used if it gets damaged. 'They left mine in my letterbox. My $450 legal identity left in my letterbox,' one said. Another said she was not as lucky as Ms McConnell and told of her recent passport experience. 'Mine came exactly the same three weeks ago; however, mine had water damage from all the rain we had,' she said. 'I took it back to the post office and they said I had to pay and order a new one. I sent an inquiry to the Australian Passport Office last week; so far, no response.' Many other frustrated Aussies remembered the days when a passport came in a protective plastic sleeve. They also said the government couldn't justify cost-cutting around passport delivery when the Australian document was the most expensive in the world. 'That's how they deliver the most expensive passport in the world?' one said. 'Your passport is the most important identification you can have, and they send it like that,' another said. Sydney woman Natalie Vellozzi, 28, posted a TikTok in December, where she compared her old and new passports and accused the government of skimping on quality of the new R series. Since its release, questions have been raised about the expensive document's quality, and Ms Vellozzi told Daily Mail the degradation was noticeable. 'Maybe the material they're using is different,' she said. 'But I just noticed as soon as I got it, it was already curling and bending over. 'When they made it and bound it together, they're not putting enough weight on it to flatten it properly.'
