The koala lost more of its habitat to mining, infrastructure and other projects approved under commonwealth nature laws than any other vulnerable species.
The Australian Conservation Foundation research found more than 25,000 hectares - equivalent to roughly 92 Sydney CBDs - of threatened species habitat got the go-ahead for land-clearing last year.
Over 25,000ha of threatened species habitat was approved for land-clearing in 2024, the ACF says. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)
That was more than double the 10,400 hectares approved under Australia's national nature laws in the 12 months prior.
A total of 2245 Australian plants, animals and ecosystems are threatened with extinction at present.
ACF nature campaigner Darcie Carruthers said the 2024 count included 3000 hectares of koala habitat, making the iconic marsupial the "biggest loser" of federally approved land-clearing in the past 12 months.
"This is shocking, because the koala is nationally recognised as an endangered species," she told AAP.
In addition, 1000 hectares of the preferred woodland habitat of the critically endangered regent honeyeater was set to be bulldozed.
There are only a few hundred of the birds left in the wild.
"Our nature laws should be there to protect it, but what they're actually doing is facilitating the destruction of its habitat," Ms Carruthers said.
Projects must be approved under national environmental law if they are deemed likely to threaten an endangered species or impact other matters of "national environmental significance".
The 3000ha of koala habitat cleared made the iconic marsupial the "biggest loser". (HANDOUT/THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY)
The Labor government has promised to overhaul the way the country manages environmentally risky development, including setting up a watchdog to assess applications independently and act as a cop on the beat.
Ms Carruthers said an environmental protection watchdog would not only ensure development applications are assessed independently of vested interests, but would also be able to crack down on illegal land-clearing - responsible for the vast majority of habitat destruction.
Labor's "nature positive" bills have struggled to attract the support needed to pass parliament, though the prime minister was believed to have intervened to kill a deal brokered between the Greens and the environment minister late last year.
Ms Carruthers urged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to "step up for nature" and deliver on his government's promise to reform nature laws.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said Labor was doing "more than ever" to better protect nature after a decade of neglect under the former coalition government.
"We've protected an extra 70 million hectares of Australia's ocean and bush - an area bigger than Germany and Italy combined," she said in a statement.
Greens environment spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young said it was time to end native forest logging and put a moratorium on the destruction of critical habitat.
"These numbers don't lie: huge-scale habitat destruction is killing our koala, trashing our environment - and it's getting worse."
