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"The Report itself states that 'the prognosis for the environment at a national level is highly dependent on how seriously the Australian Government takes its leadership role'", said Denise Boyd, campaigns director at the Australian Conservation Foundation.

"The release of the Report should serve as a catalyst for major improvement. It’s now up to the Federal Government to take a serious leadership role, particularly in working to deliver appropriate resources that can arrest the decline of our environment", she said.

"The report states in its findings climate change poses ‘the largest future threat to our inland water systems’ and that land clearing averaged about 1 million hectares per year for the past decade. It states that since 2006, the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, Australia’s Antarctic territory, is losing ice at about 60 billion tonnes each year and that the upper layers of the Southern Ocean are warming is faster than elsewhere in the world."

"The government should turn its attention to subsidies that promote pollution and wasteful consumption, like the Fuel Tax Credits scheme. This costs Australian taxpayers $5 billion a year, around $1.7 billion of which goes to big mining companies. Australia instead needs to invest in the natural capital sustaining our country," said Ms Boyd