The 2025 NSW State of the Environment Report has delivered a damning assessment of the State Government’s management of the environment, revealing a deeply troubling decline in key measures of environmental health, according to local NSW upper house member Aileen McDonald.
The independently prepared report card shows that of 71 indicators assessed by the Environment Protection Authority, only 8 are improving while 23 are worsening and 5 remain unknown.
NSW Shadow Minister for the Environment, James Griffin, said the results were “truly alarming” and highlighted Labor’s failure to continue the former Coalition Government’s strong record.
Under the previous Liberal-National Government, NSW invested over $2 billion in environmental and heritage protection programs, expanded National Parks by over 600,000 hectares, banned single-use plastics, and gave the EPA stronger powers, Griffin claims.
In contrast, growth in protected public land under Labor has flatlined, with an increase of just 0.1 per cent since Labor came to office. Ecological carrying capacity has dropped from 31per cent to 29 per cent, while marine and coastal indicators have worsened significantly including kelp forests declining by up to 62 per cent and fish kills rising by 48 per cent since the last report.
The Hon Aileen MacDonald OAM MLC, Country North Province Liberal Representative, said she had already raised the urgent need to respond to the report’s findings in the NSW Parliament.
“This is not a comfortable report, it’s hazard lights and sirens blaring. “
“It is a call for help, with no comfort at all for conservationists or the public.”
“It paints a worrying picture of how our environment is being managed and a lack of action on critical issues,” Ms MacDonald said.
“Perhaps most troubling is the lack of progress on land management, native vegetation, habitat condition, ecological carrying capacity and the rising number of threatened species.”
“Equally concerning is the failure to address wetlands and water management.”
“The time for excuses and handwringing is up. The State of the Environment Report makes that crystal clear,” Ms MacDonald said.
The NSW State of the Environment Report can be accessed here: NSW State of the Environment.
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