Recovery plans for listed threatened species and ecological communities have been made or adopted under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). These plans remain in force until their legislated sunsetting date unless the species is removed from the threatened list. The legislated sunsetting date is 1 April or 1 October 10 years after the recovery plan was made or adopted and can be deferred. These plans remain in force until and unless the species is removed from the threatened list. Recovery plans are binding on the Australian Government — once a recovery plan is in place, Australian Government agencies must act in accordance with that plan.
The list incorporates plans previously adopted or approved under the Endangered Species Protection Act 1992 (The ESP Act was replaced by the EPBC Act from July 16, 2000). Whilst every effort is taken to keep this site up to date there may be a delay in linking the most recently adopted and approved plans.
The Australian Government has deferred the sunset date for the Recovery Plan legislative instruments that were due to sunset on 1 April 2022 by 12 months to 1 April 2023. The deferral ensures that these Recovery Plans remain in place while the process to consider the most appropriate conservation planning document is completed, and new Recovery Plans are progressed as required.
The full-list of Recovery Plans is available in the department's Species Profile and Threats Database.