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Consideration transferred

The Committee of the Legislative Assembly referred this Auditor-General’s report to the Health and Environment Committee on 23 February 2023. On 13 February 2024, the Legislative Assembly amended Schedule 6 of the Standing Rules and Orders of the Legislative Assembly, establishing the Health, Environment and Agriculture Committee, and transferred the Auditor-General's report to the Health, Environment and Agriculture Committee for consideration.

OVERVIEW

Role of the Auditor-General

The role of the Auditor-General is to provide Parliament with independent assurance of public sector accountability and performance. This is achieved through reporting to Parliament on the results of its financial and performance audits.

About the Auditor-General’s Report

View:  Auditor-General's Report 9: 2022-23 — Protecting our threatened animals and plants  
View:  QAO report webpage

Auditor-General’s Report 9 summarises the results of a performance audit to assess the progress made by the Department of Environment and Science (department) in implementing the recommendations from the Auditor-General’s 2018 report, Conserving threatened species (Report 7: 2018–19). The Auditor-General chose to follow up on the 2018 report due to the adverse findings and the significance of the recommendations in that report, and the impacts of bushfires and floods on critical habitats and animals since that time.

The Auditor-General’s Report 9 reports on:

• progress on identifying animals and plants at risk though the department’s nominations process
• how the department assesses extinction risks consistently with the nationally approved framework
• the time it takes the department to change the legislation to list threatened animals and plants for protection in the Nature Conservation Act 1992
• the department’s progress in delivering a coordinated biodiversity conservation strategy for Queensland
• progress in developing monitoring strategies to inform the department about whether its conservation efforts are halting the decline of threatened species.

The Queensland Audit Office (QAO) found that the department has fully implemented 2 of the 7 recommendations made in the 2018 report, with the department now more proactively nominating species for listing as threatened, and more quickly listing threatened animals and plants for protection than it did previously. 

The other 5 recommendations from the 2018 report are at various stages of implementation. The QAO found that much more remains to be done to effectively address the performance and systems issues that led to the Auditor-General’s original recommendations, and that the improvements to populations of threatened animals and plants are not yet realised. 

The department advised the QAO that several factors have contributed to delays in implementing the recommendations. These include the need to coordinate with Australian, state, and territory agencies; competing priorities; and COVID-19 restrictions. 

The QAO noted that the delays in implementing the recommendations of the 2018 report, combined with devastating bushfire and flood events in recent years, mean that overall, Queensland’s threatened species remain under considerable and increasing pressure. 

REFERRAL TO COMMITTEE

Standing Order 194B provides that the Committee of the Legislative Assembly shall, as soon as practicable after a report of the Auditor-General is tabled in the Assembly, refer that report to the relevant portfolio committee(s) for consideration.

The Health and Environment Committee is responsible under section 94 of the Parliament of Queensland Act 2001 for assessing the integrity, economy, efficiency and effectiveness of government financial management by examining government financial documents and considering reports of the Auditor-General.

The Committee of the Legislative Assembly referred this Auditor-General’s report to the former Health and Environment Committee on 23 February 2023. On 13 February 2024, the Legislative Assembly amended Schedule 6 of the Standing Rules and Orders of the Legislative Assembly, establishing the Health, Environment and Agriculture Committee, and transferred this Auditor-General's report to the Health, Environment and Agriculture Committee for consideration.