Private businesses may be asked to give a leg up to threatened species in Australia.
The government can't do all of the heavy lifting, Environment Minister Greg Hunt says, opening the door for a New Zealand-style threatened species trust, which is funded by the commercial sector.
"I think the New Zealand model is a tremendous example for Australia," Hunt said.
Mr Hunt was speaking outside the National Threatened Species Summit in Melbourne on Thursday.
WWF-Australia species manager Darren Grover on Wednesday called on the federal government to dig deeper to save threatened flora and fauna.
"The Threatened Species Summit is an opportunity to explore solutions and discuss practical ways to halt Australia's wildlife crisis at a time when our threatened species are under more pressure than ever before," he said.
"Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt has done a great job of raising awareness about the plight of threatened species but we now need a set of strong actions if we are to prevent further extinctions in Australia."
The summit comes as some of Australia's best-loved bird species are declining in numbers in some regions.
Birdlife Australia says its 2015 Australian birds report shows dwindling numbers of some common birds, like the willy wagtail, kookaburra and magpie-lark and this should be a wake-up call.
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