CANBERRA, Thursday 16 October 2025 — Responding to the tawny frogmouth winning The Guardian’s Bird of the Year vote, the following statement can be attributed to Elle Lawless, senior campaigner at Greenpeace Australia Pacific:
“The much-loved tawny frogmouth is flying high as Australia’s Bird of the Year, but the win comes at a critical time as the Labor government prepares to reform Australia’s nature law, the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. The tawny frogmouth and their homes need protection under the new nature laws.
“The tawny frogmouth is not just Australia’s favourite bird, it’s a sitting duck. Their woodland and forest homes are being bulldozed around Australia, and our broken nature law allows it to happen. The current Act allows unchecked bulldozing of native forest, including in the bushland home of the tawny frogmouth.
“Without a strong nature law, there will be more extinctions, and we risk losing our classic birdsong, like the gentle booming call of the tawny frogmouth, from our backyards and forests. As Environment Minister Murray Watt prepares to table legislation to reform our broken national nature law, he has the opportunity to recognise the nation’s love of birds by creating a strong new nature law that will stop nature destruction and end the extinction crisis.
“There’s nothing sweeter, or more Australian, than a tawny frogmouth perched peacefully up a tree with their massive eyes and fluffy feathers, but sadly, they will become a rarer sight as their tree-homes are relentlessly bulldozed across the country. Murray Watt himself voted for the tawny frogmouth, calling it ‘a fabulous bird’, so the minister should do everything in his power to protect it with strong nature law reforms.
“Every year, the Bird of the Year poll makes it clear that Australians love birds, wildlife and our wild places. If we want the tawny frogmouth to be around for many more votes to come, we need strong, robust nature laws to protect their homes and end deforestation.”
Greenpeace Australia Pacific is calling for the EPBC reforms to meet four key tests:
- Stronger upfront nature protection to guide better decisions on big projects, including National Environmental Standards.
- An independent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to enforce the laws and make decisions about controversial projects at arm’s lengths from politics.
- Closing deforestation loopholes that allow for harmful industries to carry out mass bulldozing across Australia.
- Consideration of the climate impacts on nature from coal and gas mines when assessing projects for approvals.
—ENDS—