Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act Threatened List

The following item was added to the Threatened List in February 2024:

• Warm Temperate Rainforest Community

The Final Recommendation Report for this item is available below:

Nom 898 Warm Temperate Rainforest Community FRR (PDF, 266.1 KB)

Nom 898 Warm Temperate Rainforest Community FRR (accessible) (DOCX, 79.9 KB)

Amendments were made to the Threatened List in June 2023. These amendments were made in accordance with the common assessment method and include the addition of new EPBC Act listed species and updated EPBC Act listings for species that occur in Victoria.

Below is a summary of the changes:

1. Additional EPBC listings of taxa occurring in Victoria that are not currently FFG listed: 5 species (Table 1)
2. Updated EPBC listings of taxa that occur in Victoria that are currently FFG listed: 8 Species (Table 2)
3. Corrections to the FFG Act Threatened List for EPBC listed CAM-compliant taxa: 22 Species (Table 3)

Table numbers refer to the tables in the Final Recommendation Report, which contains the full list of amendments and is available below:

Nom 905 - FFG Act Threatened List amendments FRR (PDF, 455.6 KB)

Nom 905 - FFG Act Threatened List amendments FRR (DOCX, 86.4 KB)

Further information on the Common Assessment Method (CAM) and Memorandum of Understanding between the states, territories and Commonwealth, which has implications for the FFG Threatened List, can be found here: Intergovernmental memorandum of understanding - Agreement on a common assessment method for listing of threatened species and threatened ecological communities

The following item was added to the Threatened List in May 2023:

• Fat-tailed Dunnart (Sminthopsis crassicaudata)

The following item was added to the Processes List in May 2023:

• Poisoning of native wildlife by anticoagulant rodenticides

The Final Recommendation Reports of these items are available below:

Nom 901 Fat-tailed Dunnart FRR (PDF, 450.5 KB)

Nom 901 Fat-tailed Dunnart FRR (DOCX, 266.7 KB)

Nom 902 Poisoning of native wildlife by anticoagulant rodenticides FRR
(PDF, 276.3 KB)

Nom 902 Poisoning of native wildlife by anticoagulant rodenticides FRR (DOCX, 77.2 KB)

The following items were added to the Threatened List in September 2022:

• Western Port Bryozoan Reef Community
• Yalmy Galaxias (Galaxias sp. nov. ‘Yalmy’)
• Depressed Freshwater Mussel (Hyridella depressa)
• Narracan Corrugated Mussel (Hyridella narracanensis)

The Final Recommendation Reports of these items are available below:

Nom 890 Western Port Bryozoan Reef Community FRR (PDF, 295.0 KB)

Nom 890 Western Port Bryozoan Reef Community FRR (DOCX, 71.7 KB)

Nom 892 Yalmy Galaxias FRR (PDF, 558.9 KB)

Nom 892 Yalmy Galaxias FRR (DOCX, 259.9 KB)

Nom 893 Depressed Freshwater Mussel FRR (PDF, 509.4 KB)

Nom 893 Depressed Freshwater Mussel FRR (DOCX, 261.2 KB)

Nom 899 Narracan Corrugated Mussel FRR (PDF, 504.8 KB)

Nom 899 Narracan Corrugated Mussel FRR (DOCX, 254.6 KB)

The following item was added to the Threatened List in October 2021:

• Tangle Orchid (Plectorrhiza tridentata)

The Final Recommendation Report of this item is available below:

Nom 889 Tangle Orchid FRR (PDF, 356.5 KB)

Nom 889 Tangle Orchid FRR (DOCX, 80.3 KB)

The following item was added to the Threatened List in October 2021:

• Australian Sea-lion (Neophoca cenerea)

The Final Recommendation Report of this item is available below:

Nom 888 Australian Sea-lion FRR (PDF, 677.5 KB)

Nom 888 Australian Sea-lion FRR (DOCX, 120.1 KB)

Prior to June 2021, Victoria had multiple lists of threatened species - those listed under the FFG Act, and non-statutory lists called the Victorian Threatened Species Advisory Lists.

Amendments to the FFG Act removed duplication by establishing a single comprehensive list of threatened flora and fauna species, continued to be known as the FFG Act Threatened List. With the new comprehensive list now in effect, the Advisory lists have been revoked.

The Conservation Status Assessment project oversaw the task of ensuring every species of flora and fauna on the FFG Act Threatened List has an assessment that is compliant with the common assessment method. Assessments are accessible via the Threatened Species Assessment Report tool in NatureKit. Threatened Communities and Potentially Threatening Processes were not reassessed, however, the Final Recommendation Reports are provided for these on the Final Recommendation Reports page.

Convenor - Dr Michelle Casanova – Principal, Charophyte Services

Michelle has a PhD in Botany and is Principal at Charophyte Services, a consultancy aimed at providing best practice, scientific research, information and assessment concerning water plants and wetlands. Michelle lives and works on a fine-wool merino and cropping farm near Lake Bolac. Michelle is recognised as an international expert in the algal family Characeae, and maintains her research interest through formal associations with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, the New York Botanic Garden and The Natural History Museum, London. Michelle was appointed to the Committee in 2018 and appointed as Convenor in 2020.

Professor David Cantrill – Executive Director Science, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria

David is a terrestrial botanist whose research interest is in the evolutionary history of the Southern Hemisphere flora. He has extensive field experience in Antarctica, South America, southern Africa, New Zealand and Australia. He has previously been senior research scientist with the British Antarctic Survey (Cambridge, UK) and senior curator in the Department of Palaeobotany Swedish Museum of Natural History (Stockholm, Sweden). He is Chief Botanist and Director of the National Herbarium of Victoria at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and holds an honorary professorship at the University of Melbourne in the School of BioScience. Professor Cantrill is appointed as a member with expertise in the areas of vascular flora or communities of flora in terrestrial environments, and potentially threatening processes. David was appointed to the Committee in 2008.

Dr Matt Dell – Independent Senior Consultant Botanist

Matt is an experienced botanist with expertise in the ecology and management of southeast Australia’s flora. His experience and research interests include bryophyte ecology, plant physiology and biodiversity policy. Matt has undertaken surveys widely across Victoria and elsewhere, including numerous assessments of impacts to threatened plants and ecological communities. His previous roles have included principal at leading consultancies, science panel member for a water authority, research supervisor, expert witness and technical reviewer for major projects in Victoria. Matt contributes his expertise on non-vascular plants, vascular plants, ecological communities and threatening processes. Matt was appointed to the Committee in 2018.

Dr Pete Green – Associate Professor in Ecology, La Trobe University

Pete is an ecologist with a broad range of interests in forest ecology, plant-animal interactions, invasion biology and ecological management and restoration.  He has particular expertise in the ecology of rainforests, and maintains long-term research programs in Victoria, Queensland and Christmas Island.  He is a former Head of Department, and he coordinates the Bachelor of Wildlife and Conservation Biology degree at La Trobe University.  Pete was appointed to the Committee in 2022.

Professor David Guest AM - Professor of Plant Pathology, University of Sydney

David is the Professor of Plant Pathology in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at The University of Sydney. He teaches undergraduate courses at all levels and supervises PhD and Research Masters students. His current research focuses on the constraints faced by smallholder farmers in tropical horticulture that limit adoption of improved crop management and improved livelihoods, and the management of Phytophthora diseases in Australian environments. He has extensive partnerships with national and international research institutes and farming communities, serves on the Sydney Institute of Agriculture, Sydney Southeast Asia Centre, Scientists Australia for Gender Equity, Sydney ID, the Sydney Vietnam Centre, the MARS Chocolate Research Advisory Board, Scientific Advisory Committee for the Victorian Minister for Environment, and is an Honorary Associate of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. He is Past-President and Fellow of the Australasian Plant Pathology Society and Past President of the Asian Association of Societies of Plant Pathology. He is a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and was awarded a Career Medal for Agriculture and Rural Development by the Government of Vietnam. David was appointed to the Committee in 2022.

Dr Pia Lentini - Senior Scientist, Arthur Rylah Institute

Pia is a Senior Scientist in the Wildlife Research Section at the Arthur Rylah Institute, where she conducts applied research on the management and conservation of Victoria’s threatened fauna. She is also a Senior Research Fellow with the Interdisciplinary Conservation Science Group at RMIT University, and an Honorary Fellow with the Quantitative and Applied Ecology Group at the University of Melbourne. Pia’s research spans the conservation sciences and incorporates elements of landscape and urban ecology, biodiversity policy, movement ecology, conservation planning and human-wildlife conflict. Pia was also formerly a member of the Executive of the Australasian Bat Society and a Board Member for Wildlife Victoria. Pia was appointed to the Committee in 2020.

Dr Linda Thomson – Honorary Research Fellow, University of Melbourne

Linda held positions at La Trobe University before moving to Zoology at University of Melbourne in 2005, where she is currently an honorary research fellow at the Pest and Environmental Adaptation Research Group (PEARG). She has extensive research experience in biological monitoring, biodiversity assessment, and invertebrate conservation and ecology with particular interest in the role of invertebrates as indicators of environmental sustainability and in the control of pest species in agriculture. Linda is appointed as a member with expertise in the areas of invertebrate fauna in terrestrial environments and potentially threatening processes. Linda was appointed to the Committee in 2016.

Dr Susanna Venn – Senior Lecturer in Environmental Botany, Deakin University

Susanna is a plant ecologist with a wealth of research experience in the processes that shape alpine ecosystems. Her research focusses on how snow influences plant community patterns, (re)assembly and ecological processes. Susanna works at Deakin University as a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Botany and leads the eXtreme Plant Ecology Research Team in the Centre for Integrative Ecology. Susanna was appointed to the Committee in 2018.

For further information on any recommendations of the SAC, please contact the SAC as follows:

Email:

SAC.secretariat@delwp.vic.gov.au

Post:

Secretary, Scientific Advisory Committee

Biodiversity Division

Environment, Climate Action and First Peoples

Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action

PO Box 500  EAST MELBOURNE VIC 8002

The Commonwealth and most state and territory governments, including Victoria, have signed an intergovernmental Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to deliver a Common Assessment Method (CAM) for assessing the conservation status of all Australian threatened species.

The CAM establishes a consistent approach to assessing and listing threatened species. Assessments are based on International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) criteria and conform to standards developed by a national Working Group representing all jurisdictions. Under the CAM, each state or territory will have a single operational list of threatened species.

Note: Under the CAM, “species” is a general term that includes species, subspecies, varieties and hybrids, referred to as “taxa” in the assessment documentation.

CAM Memorandum of Understanding

IUCN criteria and guidelines

IUCN criteria summary (PDF, 54.9 KB)

IUCN criteria summary (DOCX, 27.3 KB)

From 2018 to 2021, the Department undertook the Conservation Status Assessment (CSA) project to re-assess the conservation status of the over 2,000 plants, animals and fungi that were considered to be rare or threatened in Victoria.

The purpose of the project was to consolidate the previous multiple lists of threatened species into a single Threatened List under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 (FFG Act) in Victoria. This included species listed as:

• nationally threatened under the Federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act);
• threatened under the Victorian FFG Act;
• rare or threatened within the Department's Advisory Lists: the Advisory List of Threatened Invertebrate Fauna in Victoria – 2009; the Advisory List of Threatened Vertebrate Fauna – 2013; and the Advisory List of Rare or Threatened Plants in Victoria – 2014.

Species were excluded from the assessments if they:

• were not already FFG-listed and were not categorised as threatened on the Department's Advisory Lists i.e. species that were included as ‘near threatened’, ‘data deficient’ or ‘poorly known’;
• had unconfirmed taxonomy;
• had been more recently regarded as not occurring in Victoria; or
• had already been assessed under the CAM at the national level and were therefore eligible for inclusion and did not require re-assessment.

The FFG Threatened List represents Victoria’s single operational list of threatened species. The List contains the scientific name and common name of each species, its extinction risk in Australia or Victoria and the category of threat (i.e. conservation status – Extinct, Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, and for fish only, Conservation Dependent).

A threatened species is at risk of extinction in Australia if it:

• is EPBC-listed and is compliant with the conditions of the CAM; or
• does not have a CAM-compliant EPBC listing but is endemic to Victoria.

A species is at risk of extinction in Victoria if it:

• is listed under the EPBC Act but the national assessment was not CAM-compliant; or
• it has been assessed as not threatened nationally but is threatened in Victoria; or
• it has not had a national assessment.

The new Threatened list of 1,993 species, published in June 2021, consists of 49 mammals, 104 birds, 40 reptiles, 15 amphibians, 37 fish, 124 invertebrates, 1,556 vascular plants, 60 non-vascular plants and 8 fungi and lichens.

Note – three species that were previously listed under the FFG Act but were not assessed as part of this process remain listed, under the general category of Threatened in Victoria.

Eleven species were removed from the Threatened List. Four were assessed as not threatened, based on new information. Three are species that are no longer considered native to Victoria. Four had invalid taxonomy, which means they are no longer recognised as a species.

Each species is assessed against the IUCN criteria, including the population extent and number, degree of decline and ongoing and future threats. A species may be assessed as threatened based on one or more of these criteria. The highest category of threat that a species is assessed against will apply.

Under the FFG Act if the conservation status of a listed species requires changing, or for species to be added to the list, they must have a CAM compliant assessment. EPBC-listed species that do not have a CAM compliant assessment are termed “legacy” species. In Victoria, the CSA project assessed species only in Victoria and the assessment therefore applies only to their status in Victoria. This can be different to the EPBC listing status. Over time all the legacy species will be re-assessed under the CAM by the Commonwealth. This means that during this transition period, some species will be listed under different categories under the FFG Act and EPBC Act as the status of a species under a non-CAM compliant EPBC listing may be different from its CAM-compliant Victorian status.

Federally, a species’ EPBC status applies for any processes or regulations under that legislation. Once the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment undertakes a CAM compliant national assessment, Victoria will then be required to adopt their status under the FFG Act, as per the CAM MoU.

Some EPBC-listed species met the criteria for a higher category when assessed at the Victorian scale, but under the CAM, can only be listed with their national status (as long as it is CAM-compliant). For example, a species with a CAM compliant national assessment and listed under the EPBC Act as Vulnerable, may be considered Endangered within its Victorian range, but will be listed as Vulnerable on the FFG Threatened List. However, action statements will be prepared for these species describing threats and management actions relevant in Victoria and not based on their national status.

A significant number of taxa were upgraded from a lower conservation status to a higher one, particularly among the plants. There are several reasons for this:

1. Most of the changes relate to flora, as the criteria for assessment have substantially changed. The Department's Advisory List of Rare or Threatened Plants did not have a ‘Critically Endangered’ category and the FFG Threatened List does not have a ‘Rare’ category. Many species previously listed as Endangered, Vulnerable or Rare, were subsequently assessed as Critically Endangered. This does not mean that for many of these species that their status has worsened.
2. There is better information. While the Advisory List of Rare or Threatened Plants was updated in 2014, most of the information was based on 2005 data. Further data has been collected providing a better picture of the status of species and in many cases, conditions may have changed in the intervening years.
3. Consideration of climate effects was not properly considered in the older lists. Climate change-induced drying, warming and more frequent bushfires pose significant threats for many species.
4. The bushfires of 2019 and 2020 had serious impacts on the habitat of a number of species, and on the species themselves. The full impacts are still to be assessed in the field for many species, though for some species fire area and fire severity mapping indicated the likelihood of impacts. Species regarded as fire sensitive were reconsidered and some were upgraded to a higher status, based on increased past or predicted future decline.
5. Under the IUCN criteria, past and future declines are based on three generations, so for very long-lived species, e.g. large Eucalypts, consideration of decline can extend to pre-European settlement. These declines can place a species into a higher category than previously assessed.

A small number of species were downgraded from a higher conservation status. Forty-nine were reduced to Near Threatened (NT), Data Deficient (DD) or Least Concern (LC) and were not included in the List. The reasons for this are:

1. There is better information. Some species are more numerous or widely distributed than previously thought.
2. Some historic declines can’t be considered under the IUCN criteria. Past and/or future decline are calculated based on either three generations or ten years, whichever is longer. Therefore, species that have short generation times, e.g. annual plants, some amphibians, small birds and mammals, declines are only considered for up to ten years into the past or future. For species that had in the past experienced significant declines, these could not be taken into account, This means a species with a relatively broad distribution and a total population size exceeding the IUCN thresholds, though the numbers may be substantially fewer, will be assessed as LC.
3. Some species (almost entirely invertebrates) were previously regarded as threatened because there were very few records. However, for some species this was a result of incidental observations with no targeted surveys, and their small size and often cryptic habit. In cases where there was inadequate evidence to determine numbers, distribution or declines, they were assessed as DD. Further data collected on these species in the future would mean they may be nominated for inclusion in the FFG Threatened List.

There are likely to be only minor implications for regulation, investment programs and public land management. All the items that were assessed were either already FFG-listed or listed as rare or threatened on the published Advisory Lists.

• Vertebrate fauna species are already protected under the Wildlife Act 1975, but there are higher penalties for taking threatened wildlife i.e. fauna listed under the FFG Act.
• FFG-listed plants, and those declared protected by Governor-in-Council (GiC) Order are protected on public land. Major groups of plants (e.g. all orchids, almost all acacias, daisies and ferns) are protected by GiC Order, so only a few additional plants will become protected, and two will become unprotected.
• Processes such as forest management planning and strategic bushfire management planning have also used the Advisory Lists in addition to the FFG Threatened List for information on taxa of conservation concern, so most threatened species have already been considered.
• Except through some processes, such as Victoria’s native vegetation clearing regulations where they will continue to be used during a transition period, the Department's three Advisory Lists have been retired.

The Guidelines for the removal, destruction or lopping of native vegetation are incorporated into all planning schemes in Victoria and refer to the Advisory Lists. These will continue to apply for the purposes of regulating native vegetation clearing in Victoria during a transition period. Queries should be directed to nativevegetation.support@delwp.vic.gov.au.