Exclusive: government inaction leading to increased pollution on Barrier Reef, says WWF

Huge spike in Queensland land clearing destroys ecological communities and habitat of threatened species, according to analysis

The federal government is allowing the huge spike in land clearing in Queensland to destroy threatened ecological communities, the habitat of threatened species and increase pollution on the Great Barrier Reef by failing to enforce environmental law, according to analysis by WWF.

Following the weakening of land clearing laws in Queensland in 2013, the rate of clearing there has tripled to almost 300,000 hectares each year.