This report estimates the size and growth of Queensland’s environmental bureaucracy since the year 2000, and compares it against the size and growth of Queensland’s agricultural sector.

This document forms the Australian government's response the Independent Review of the EPBC Act, conducted by Graeme Samuel in 2021. It sets out the government’s commitment to reform Australia’s environmental laws to better protect, restore and manage Australia's unique environment.

It is intended that this publication will serve to increase the accessibility of valuable evidence and experiences to policy-makers within Australia. The University of Queensland and the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust also hope that it will encourage more partnership approaches toward developing public policy that are informed by broad groups of experts, including Churchill Fellows.

In December 2021, the Queensland Government’s Statewide Land and Tree Study (SLATS) released the most recent detections of forest and woodland destruction for 2018-19 using a new and more accurate methodology. This report analyses the 2018-19 SLATS data to quantify destruction of forested habitats for threatened species and threatened ecological communities.

Australia is home to some of the world’s most ancient forests. This paper offers policy-makers a blueprint for assessing the true value of our native forests. Recognising the inherent preferencing of the quantitative (particularly when it comes to Expenditure Review Committee processes), the authors conduct a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of conserving the wet forests in...