Australia taking six years to list threatened habitats under environment laws

Senate inquiry hears that major threats to wildlife are not being recognised because of environment department budget cuts

Australia is taking at least six years to list habitats as threatened under national environment laws, an inquiry examining the country's extinction crisis has heard.

The Humane Society International (HSI) also said that potential major threats to Australia's wildlife are going unexamined because "we're not even spending the meagre funds required" to look into them.