Trillion Trees President Dr Paul Barber features in a new article which calls into question the WA Government's commitment to boost Perth's poor tree canopy.
ABC Perth
Monday 13 October 2025
By WA Chief Reporter Rhiannon Shine
The WA government is facing fresh questions over its plans to boost Perth's tree cover, with experts saying current funding will not come close to delivering on Labor’s election promises.
Prior to the state election, WA Labor promised to almost double Perth's tree canopy from 16 to 30 per cent by 2040.
But in May it adopted a new approach to calculating canopy which now includes some rural areas, and this saw Perth's canopy figure jump to 22 per cent – meaning the new goal is an 8 per cent increase, rather than a 14 per cent jump.
The Western Australian Local Government Association (WALGA) was surprised by the sharp rise in urban canopy, given the city has lost nearly 5,000 trees to the polyphagous shot-hole borer in recent years.
"It doesn't matter what figure we announce or come up with, we are living in a city that's urban canopy is a disgrace," WALGA president Karen Chappel said.
Sarah Allchurch, co-founder of the Western Australian Tree Canopy Advocates (WATCA), was even more scathing.
"When you start counting paddocks as urban canopy, you're not measuring progress you're actually hiding the problem," she said.
But Minister for Planning and Lands John Carey said the previous methodology was flawed because it wasn't capturing rural areas that might be subject to future development.
He said 30 per cent remained the state government's "big, bold and ambitious" target.
Labor also promised $16.9 million on programs and incentives that it said would help deliver one million new trees planted in metropolitan Perth by 2035.
This included a new household 'tree-bate' scheme which pays up to 10,000 people a year to plant a tree at home — so far 3,500 have taken it up.
The ABC understands the government has since been advised that the money may only result in around 130,000 new trees.
'Rolling program' #
Mr Carey said there would be further policy announcements to come.
"I suspect you will see this is a rolling program," he said.
Of all the Australian capital cities, Perth has the lowest tree canopy — shade that can lower temperatures by several degrees Celsius on days of extreme heat.
It can also improve people's health and property prices, reduce energy costs and support biodiversity.
Last year Mr Carey intervened to scrap a scheme that would have enforced the protection of mature trees on some private properties.
He has previously argued the tree protection laws were controversial because they impacted home owners who wanted to build or renovate on their property.
"We've got to take the community with us because we can put in any or all these [punitive] policies, but nothing stops a person just ripping out a tree any time — and then it's done," he said.
But some experts said the government was not going to shift the needle with an all-carrot-no-stick approach, when nearly 80 per cent of tree loss happened on private property.
"We'll never be able to get to the 30 per cent target by 2040 just by planting trees," said Paul Barber, the managing director of environmental consultancy ArborCarbon and adjunct professor at Murdoch University.
"If we continue to do what we are doing, plan the way we are planning, have the lack of protections for trees, and have the budgets that are available for planting trees, we just won't get there."
Mr Barber works with local and state governments to help boost their green space using satellite imaging to map tree canopy.
He said poor planning was a key issue in parts of Perth.
"What happens is we come in, we knock all the trees over, and we create a landscape that's devoid of any vegetation," he said.
Mr Carey argued the state government had already taken steps like mandating deep soil zones and incentivising tree retention, but faced a "quagmire" due to the housing crisis.
"We need more housing development, and so we're trying to cut red tape around that, but also we need more canopy," he said.
WA Greens leader Brad Pettitt said protecting trees and building houses did not need to be mutually exclusive.
"There is a real risk that this government's legacy is going to be a bunch of unliveable, tree-less, hot housing in the wrong locations," he said.
WALGA has developed a local planning policy for protecting mature trees on private land which has so far been adopted by seven local councils.
"With the state government missing in action on this, local governments have to step in," Ms Chappel said.
Like Labor, the WA Liberals do not support blanket tree protection laws.
The party's planning spokesman Neil Thomson said the 30 per cent canopy goal should be replaced with more "realistic" individual local government targets.
Mr Carey said he hoped to release the Perth and Peel Urban Greening Strategy, which has been under development since early 2024, by the end of this year.
Canopy Truths: Why Transparency Matters in Urban Greening
Dr Paul Barber, President of Trillion Trees Australia