Legal protection of fauna habitat in Western Australia

This article reviews the laws that apply in Western Australia to protect the habitat of Western Australian fauna. Recognising that knowledge of Western Australian biodiversity (including fauna) is poor, a survey of Western Australian zoologists was conducted to determine their opinion on the effect of habitat destruction on a chosen species. Through this process detailed information was collected on 26 Western Australian animal species. In the light of this information, the current and proposed suite of common law, Western Australian legislation and Commonwealth legislation applying in Western Australia was examined to determine whether this offers adequate protection to the habitat of native fauna and allows for individual species differences to be adequately taken into account.