The Northern Territory’s peak environment group is calling on Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to assess the bulldozing of huge swathes of native savanna woodlands, saying it could significantly impact rare and threatened animals that live in the Daly River region.
Lawyers at Environmental Justice Australia (EJA), on behalf of the Environment Centre NT (ECNT), have written an urgent letter to the Minister for the Environment, Tanya Plibersek, detailing the potentially irreversible impact of clearing nearly 7000ha* of savanna woodland at Claravale Station and Farm, near the banks of the Daly River about 300km south of Darwin.
ECNT has urged the Minister to immediately ‘call in’ the past and proposed land clearing for assessment under Australia’s nature laws, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act).
Dr Kirsty Howey, Executive Director of ECNT says:
“The Daly River is treasured by Territorians, but it’s under huge risk from accelerated industrial farming expansion.”
"It beggars belief that the federal Environment Minister has never assessed pastoral land clearing in the NT under federal environment laws, despite skyrocketing approvals.”
“We’re simply asking Minister Plibersek to use the laws that do exist, to ensure that impacts on threatened species like the ghost bat and freshwater sawfish are properly assessed.”
Laura Dreyfus, senior lawyer at EJA says:
“Our client is concerned that NT government decision makers are rubber stamping permits and turning a blind eye to the environmental damage from land clearing.”
“The Minister has the power to protect some of the last remaining intact savanna on Earth. These are vital ecosystems on Country cared for by Traditional Owners for millennia.”
The landowners of Claravale have not referred this project for assessment under federal environment laws. In fact, no NT pastoral land clearing application has ever been referred for assessment under federal law. The Minister must ensure the nature laws are used to protect nature and stop extinctions.
In early 2021, ECNT was alerted to an incident of alleged illegal land clearing at Claravale Farm by the Traditional Owners of that Country. Images of land bulldozed almost to the riverbank shocked people across Australia when they were shown on ABC’s 7.30 and Four Corners.
Since then, ECNT has monitored land clearing activities at Claravale Farm and neighbouring Claravale Station (which has the same owners). The owners have now applied to bulldoze thousands of hectares of savanna woodland. In total, these past and proposed clearing actions add up to nearly 7000ha, which is equal to almost 3500 MCG playing fields.
These unscrutinised acts of habitat destruction could have significant impacts on threatened species, including the ghost bat, pig-nosed turtle, freshwater sawfish and Partridge pigeon, as well as regional biodiversity. The Daly region is already one of the most cleared regions in the Northern Territory.
The Minister must act now. As the last line of defence for the iconic creatures of the Daly, this letter urges her to call in this bulldozing for assessment under the EPBC Act.
Bulldozing this Country will likely have a significant impact on matters of national environmental significance and must be subject to the highest level of assessment, including under our federal environmental laws, ECNT says.
*This figure includes past and proposed land clearing actions.
Media contact Amy Russell, nature campaigner [email protected], 0422 944 688
Background
NT land clearing
The rate of land clearing permits granted in the Territory for agricultural development has soared in recent years. In 2016-2017 alone, the NT Government approved about 45,500ha of land clearing – almost a tenfold increase from the average (4,600ha) of the previous 12 years. Currently, there is around 40,000ha of land clearing under assessment by the Pastoral Land Board – including the latest Claravale application – all of which could be approved at any time.
The Daly Basin
The Daly Basin bioregion is already one of the most cleared regions in the Northern Territory. The 2021 Claravale Station Application states 13% of the Daly Basin bioregion has already been cleared. Since the 2021 application, approximately a further 6,700ha of land has been approved to be
This means greater than 13% of the bioregion will, or has been, cleared.
Claravale Farm
About 270km south of Darwin, Claravale Farm is situated near the banks of the Daly River. The savanna woodland in this region has been cared for by Traditional Owners for generations and is vital habitat for threatened species. Nearly 300ha of native habitat was bulldozed at Claravale Farm in 2021 without a permit, and an application to clear a further 2000ha was submitted to the NT’s Pastoral Land Board in February 2024.
Alleged illegal bulldozing
The NT government launched legal proceedings against the owners of Claravale in 2023, which were settled out of court by the Finocchiaro government in 2025 before a conviction could be obtained. The defendants acknowledged that vegetation was cleared without a land clearing permit.
Claravale Station
The station is the neighbouring property to the farm. A permit to bulldoze 1000ha of native habitat at Claravale Station has already been granted, while an application for more than 3800ha is currently under review by the Pastoral Land Board.
Ghost bats. Large numbers of ghost bats and sinkholes have been detected at Claravale Station. Ghost bat breeding is known to occur within Claravale Station, and ghost bat habitat is likely to occur at Claravale Farm. Claravale Station is an important region for ghost bats and there are 12 known caves at Claravale, four of which are known to be habitat for ghost bats. One of these caves is a maternity roost; between 70-500 bats have been recorded there.
The proposed clearing actions at Claravale Station are likely to have a significant impact on the ghost bat, resulting in a long-term decrease in the size of an important population, adversely affecting habitat critical to the survival of the species and disrupting the breeding cycle of an important population.
Daly River
One of the few rivers in the Northern Territory that flows all year round, the Daly has astounding freshwater biodiversity and tremendous cultural significance.
Freshwater sawfish
Given the known presence of freshwater sawfish to the north and south of Claravale Farm and Claravale Station (i.e. there are records upstream and downstream), the importance of the Daly River (particularly as a nursery), and that sawfish tend to return to their birthplace to reproduce and then migrate upriver, it is likely there is a population of sawfish in waterways next to or at Claravale, and that this area will continue to be used by sawfish.
Given the threat of habitat modification from land clearing (sedimentation and run off, waterway contamination), and significant agricultural development along the Daly River and in the Daly Basin bioregion, the land clearing at Claravale has the extent that the species is likely to decline.
