Conclusion

DELWP’s limited use of legislative tools means that the inclusion of a species on the FFG Act Threatened List does not guarantee its protection. DELWP has better-practice tools to support its decision making to protect threatened species. However, gaps in data underpinning these tools limits confidence in their outputs.

DELWP lacks a transparent process to prioritise critically endangered species for protection. This is a critical gap in DELWP's approach to prevent further species extinctions.

Conclusion

DELWP cannot demonstrate that it is halting the decline of threatened species.

DELWP cannot determine if its prioritised Biodiversity 2037 management interventions have adequately controlled key threats and are halting further threatened species population declines. This is because of flaws in its KPIs and its lack of a targeted monitoring program to assess the on-ground impact of its prioritised management interventions on threatened species populations.

Victoria's biodiversity, including native flora and fauna and their habitats, has been declining since European settlement. Victoria has lost around 80 species, and currently 1 991 are at risk of extinction. Current and emerging threats, such as land clearing, the introduction of new pest plants and animals, and the impact of climate change continue to put our native plants and animals at increasing risk of decline and extinction.

The files below contain all the responses for our survey of entities in relation to their major projects. For the purposes of space, we have abbreviated the questions asked in the survey. 

The table also uses abbreviations for the questions we have asked, which Figure G1 lists.

FIGURE G1: Acronyms and abbreviations

This appendix provides more information about water entities' major project disclosures in the BP4. Click the link below to download a PDF copy.

This appendix lists the major capital investments from the 2019–20 BP4 and 2020–21 Budget Paper No.3: Service Delivery that we did not include in this review. Click the link below to download a PDF copy.

Appendix D summarises the projects we included in this review and shows the relevant entities’ self-assessments ratings. Click the link below to download a PDF copy.

Click the link below to download a PDF copy of Appendix A. Submissions and comments.