Latest news with #CarolineSpencer
ABC News
01-07-2025
- General
- ABC News
Government fails to protect dozens of WA threatened ecological communities
More than two thirds of Western Australia's threatened ecological communities (TECs) are ineffectively monitored and protected, with an auditor general's inquiry exposing the state's failure to act under its own conservation laws. The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) has made little progress in monitoring or protecting 72 per cent of TECs, according to the report by Auditor General Caroline Spencer. Recovery plans were either interim or outdated, with none approved by the environment minister. The report also found it would take more than a century, at the current rate, to assess 390 at-risk communities identified as potentially threatened. It said 60 of the communities awaiting assessment were in the Kimberley. Ms Spencer said DCBA lacked the resources and planning to meet its obligations. She found the department did not have a TEC strategy, and it was unclear if current activities aligned with long-term conservation goals. The WA Biodiversity Conservation Act was passed in 2016, coming into effect with regulations in 2019. It allowed the environment minister to list a species or ecological community as threatened. There have been 65 threatened ecological communities listed across the state. Environs Kimberley executive director Martin Pritchard said the government was not prioritising the environment. "It's so disappointing the government is choosing not to fund the proper management of these threatened ecological communities to make sure they survive," he said. "This means we don't know what's happening to these environments. "Are they being severely impacted by cattle? Is climate change impacting them? Is the extraction of ground water a major threat to them?" Mr Pritchard said he was "shocked" part of the $2.4 billion operating surplus for 2024-25 could not be used to fund ecological protection. The Montane Heath and Thicket of the Eastern Stirling Range are listed as critically endangered on the state's south coast. University of Western Australia botanist Stephen Hopper said it was time to protect "wonderful natural heritage assets". "It's simply going to decline and get worse, and that is not just a local problem, it's a national and international challenge," Professor Hopper said. He blamed low state and federal government funding, in part, for limiting the DCBA's ability to effectively do its job. "There are well-meaning people in the department trying to do the best they can," he said. "They're in this invidious position of not even having the resources to be able to monitor whether the conservation status was going up or down with threatened communities." The DCBA did not confirm whether it had made a formal case for increased funding to implement the Biodiversity Conservation Act. In a statement, a department spokesperson said it welcomed the auditor general's review. "Recovery actions for TECs and threatened species are built into broader conservation programs by DBCA and supported by State, Commonwealth, and non-government funding," they said. "Regional conservation planning is being finalised across all nine DBCA regions, ensuring a consistent, prioritised approach to addressing threats to threatened species and ecological communities." The spokesperson said recovery plans were prioritised when significant complexities in conservation planning arose.
Sydney Morning Herald
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
The state made new laws to protect WA nature. Then it forgot something
The department charged with protecting Western Australia's threatened plants and animals is not only failing to protect three-quarters of them, but was never given the resources to do so. A damning auditor general report tabled in parliament on Thursday says of the 65 threatened ecological communities listed in this state, the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions is only focusing monitoring and protection of the 28 per cent of them on land it manages. Auditor General Caroline Spencer has found the department has made no significant progress on monitoring the condition of the 72 per cent of these precious communities on others' land, and is not making landowners aware of their existence and available assistance to protect them. Spencer said this amounted to some of the state's threatened ecological communities having only legal, not practical protection. She also found that at its current pace, the department would take more than 100 years to list and protect the additional 390 priority ecological communities identified, if they were all deemed suitable for listing as threatened. It was unclear if the condition of the state's threatened ecological communities was improving or declining. She found the department could not effectively track nor demonstrate the impact of its conservation activities. She said parliament passed the Biodiversity Conservation Act in 2016 and given it effect in 2019 through regulations, but had not resourced the department to implement those regulations. But she also said the department's implementation planning was weak, and it lacked a strategic plan to demonstrate the level of resourcing it needed to meet its threatened ecological community responsibilities under those laws.
The Age
27-06-2025
- Politics
- The Age
The state made new laws to protect WA nature. Then it forgot something
The department charged with protecting Western Australia's threatened plants and animals is not only failing to protect three-quarters of them, but was never given the resources to do so. A damning auditor general report tabled in parliament on Thursday says of the 65 threatened ecological communities listed in this state, the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions is only focusing monitoring and protection of the 28 per cent of them on land it manages. Auditor General Caroline Spencer has found the department has made no significant progress on monitoring the condition of the 72 per cent of these precious communities on others' land, and is not making landowners aware of their existence and available assistance to protect them. Spencer said this amounted to some of the state's threatened ecological communities having only legal, not practical protection. She also found that at its current pace, the department would take more than 100 years to list and protect the additional 390 priority ecological communities identified, if they were all deemed suitable for listing as threatened. It was unclear if the condition of the state's threatened ecological communities was improving or declining. She found the department could not effectively track nor demonstrate the impact of its conservation activities. She said parliament passed the Biodiversity Conservation Act in 2016 and given it effect in 2019 through regulations, but had not resourced the department to implement those regulations. But she also said the department's implementation planning was weak, and it lacked a strategic plan to demonstrate the level of resourcing it needed to meet its threatened ecological community responsibilities under those laws.
ABC News
17-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
SmartRider public transport upgrade among IT projects over budget, WA auditor-general finds
Perth residents are no closer to being able to use their phones or debit cards to tag on for public transport because a highly anticipated SmartRider upgrade is six-and-a-half years behind schedule and way over budget. That's one of the findings of a new auditor-general report that revealed most of the WA government's major IT projects have blown out in cost and time, and that called for better transparency. The auditor-general's office looked at 10 major projects being delivered by the government, including the firearms licensing and registering system and electronic medical records. In total, those projects are currently $1.6 billion over budget, with eight of them delayed. The SmartRider technology is already used in many other capital cities across the globe, but the report revealed its introduction in WA is significantly behind schedule, with the project not due to be completed until June 2026. It was originally supposed to be finished by December 2019. A central agency called the Office of Digital Government (DGov) is tasked with overseeing the digital transformation of the public sector, but it is not involved in every state government IT project. "The projects that were subject to these oversight mechanisms and solid frameworks actually performed much better," WA Auditor-General Caroline Spencer told ABC Radio Perth. "It's the ones that were internally funded … that didn't have those good project governance and oversight mechanisms that had the biggest problems." That includes the SmartRider technology, which the report estimated will come in about $7 million over budget. Premier Roger Cook said it was likely projects involving complex IT systems, like the SmartRider upgrade, blew out because of developments in technology. "Particularly as the IT evolves over the term of that program, you are given new opportunities around scope," he said. "In the ticketing system in the [Public Transport Authority], as they're starting to get to the back-end of that program, other opportunities come up. "[It's] still a $60 million program. We've been given the opportunity to capture other issues which expands the scope of that and may expand the cost, but no decision has been made in relation to that." Information on the status and cost of these projects is not readily available to the taxpayer. Ms Spencer said it was even difficult for her office to access it because figures in annual reports and budget papers tended to be inconsistent. "Good reporting and transparency is really, really important to decision-makers to make sure that when a project gets off track, informed decisions are made to bring it on track, and they don't just linger and run on without proper scrutiny and oversight," she said. The report provided an example of what a digital dashboard could look like to make the information public. But Ms Spencer said while improvements were being made, nothing had been set in stone. "The commitment to increasing transparency of major projects, whether they be infrastructure projects or IT projects, is still a work in progress," she said.
West Australian
12-06-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Water watchdog under fire: Just five inspections in North West for two trillion litres of allocations
There were only five on-ground inspections of water licence holders in the North West in four years, despite the region containing almost half of the water entitlement for the entire State. A scathing report released on Wednesday by the Office of the Auditor General found the government agency in charge of monitoring licence holders was not doing 'anywhere near enough' to protect water resources across WA and could not be confident licence holders weren't taking water illegally. The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) is tasked with monitoring more than 12,000 water licences across WA. The licences are used for everyday life, industry, mining and agriculture, with 78 per cent of all water used across the State drawn from underground aquifers. These free licences allow for the extraction of more than four trillion litres of water annually — enough water to fill more than 1.7 million Olympic swimming pools. In the North West there are 907 licences for a combined water entitlement of 2045 gigalitres, or two trillion litres. But only five on-ground inspections were held in the North West between 2021 and 2024. In the Ord River Irrigation Area, DWER failed to follow the recommendations of its own specialists who determined that based on scientific evidence and research, 10 per cent of licensees should be inspected annually. Auditor General Caroline Spencer found that while DWER carried out more than 2000 compliance activities a year, that number had decreased over the past three years and most activities were desktop reviews of unverified meter readings and information reported by licence holders. On-ground inspections also decreased, dropping State-wide by 67 per cent between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2024. Ms Spencer said despite increasing demand for water and a drying climate, DWER couldn't be confident that licence holders were meeting their licence conditions and that water was being extracted appropriately. 'This audit shows that DWER is not doing anywhere near enough to adequately protect our water resources, with compliance activities in recent years reactive and ad hoc,' she said. 'Poor management, over-extraction and illegal taking of water all threaten the long-term sustainability of our groundwater supplies and creates an uneven playing field for operators who are doing the right thing. 'As regulator, DWER has a critical role to ensure those licensed to extract and use water comply with their licence conditions.' Reports by the OAG in 2003 and 2009 also found the regulator's monitoring of water use in WA was not sufficient to ensure the resource was not being taken illegally. The report noted DWER had few staff to carry out on-ground inspections and while some compliance activities were performed by licensing officers, there were only seven dedicated compliance officers. In a response to the findings, DWER said it welcomed the report, would review its findings and implement improvements. It said the audit was held during a transitional period for its water assurance activities and while improvements were under way. 'An increase in enforcement activity under the Rights in Water and Irrigation Act 1914, including the issuing of daily penalty notices, resulted in record fines for water assurance enforcement activities in 2024,' it said.
