Home

We recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the sovereign Traditional Owners of Australia and thank them for their stewardship of this Country, its lands, waters and skies. We respectfully acknowledge their culture and customary practices, and pay respect to their Ancestors, Elders and future leaders.

For the first time, the State of the Environment report includes a strong Indigenous narrative across all 12 thematic chapters, a narrative crafted through recognising the leadership, collaboration and authorship of Indigenous Australians who continue their connection as Traditional Owners to their lands, waters and skies.

Click to view the State of the Environment report

 

On 28 March 2025 the government assumed a Caretaker role. Information on websites maintained by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water will be published in accordance with the Guidance on Caretaker Conventions until after the conclusion of the caretaker period.

Due to technical issues, graphs, maps and tables are currently not displaying within the main content, however, are available via the chapter resources navigation bar. We are working on a solution to resolve the issue.

References

R

Radford L & Marchant G (2020). Lead in Port Pirie children’s blood spikes to highest level since 2010, says SA Health, Australian Broadcasting Corporation North and West South Australia, Port Pirie, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-02/port-pirie-blood-lead-levels-spike-to-highest-level-in-decade/12018128.

Rauert C, Shoieb M, Schuster JK, Eng A & Harner T (2018). Atmospheric concentrations and trends of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and volatile methyl siloxanes (VMS) over 7 years of sampling in the global atmospheric passive sampling (GAPS) network. Environmental Pollution 238:94–102.

Reid CE, Brauer M, Johnston FH, Jerrett M, Balmes JR & Elliott CT (2016). Critical review of health impacts of wildfire smoke exposure. Environmental Health Perspectives 124(9):1334–1343.

Reisen F, Gillett R, Choi J, Fisher G & Torre P (2017). Characteristics of an open-cut coal mine fire pollution event. Atmospheric Environment 151:140–151.

Reisen F, Powell JC, Dennekamp M, Johnston FH & Wheeler AJ (2019). Is remaining indoors an effective way of reducing exposure to fine particulate matter during biomass burning events? Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association 69(5):611–622.

Robinson DL, Horsley JA, Johnston FH & Morgan GG (2021). The effects on mortality and the associated financial costs of wood heater pollution in a regional Australian city. Medical Journal of Australia 215(6):269–272.

Roös PB (2014). Indigenous knowledge and climate change: settlement patterns of the past to adaptation of the future. International Journal of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses 7(1):13–31.

Rose DB (1996). Nourishing terrains: Australian Aboriginal views of landscape and wilderness, Australian Heritage Commission, Canberra.

Rose DB (2000). Dingo makes us human: life and land in an Australian Aboriginal culture, 2nd edn, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne.

Russell-Smith J, Cook GD, Cooke PM, Edwards AC, Lendrum M, Meyer CP & Whitehead PJ (2013). Managing fire regimes in north Australian savannas: applying Aboriginal approaches to contemporary global problems. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 11(s1):e55–e63.

Ryan RG, Rhodes S, Tully M & Schofield R (2020a). Surface ozone exceedances in Melbourne, Australia are shown to be under NOx control, as demonstrated using formaldehyde:NO2 and glyoxal:formaldehyde ratios. Science of the Total Environment 749:141460.

Ryan RG, Silver JD & Schofield R (2021). Air quality and health impact of 2019–20 Black Summer megafires and COVID-19 lockdown in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. Environmental Pollution 274:116498.

Ryan RG, Silver JD, Querel R, Smale D, Rhodes S, Tully M, Jones N & Schofield R (2020b). Comparison of formaldehyde tropospheric columns in Australia and New Zealand using MAX-DOAS, FTIR and TROPOMI. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques 13(12):6501–6519.