 While the northern subspecies (black-rumped, "Poephila cincta atropygialis") has a status of "Least concern" under Queensland's "Nature Conservation Act 1992", the Commonwealth status of the southern subspecies ("Poephila cincta cincta") under the "Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999" is "Endangered".The reason for the decline in population is probably due to the spread of pastoralism, changes in fire regime, and increases in the density of native woody weeds in grassy savannahs.A national management plan was published in 2004 by the New South Wales and Queensland governments, but records of the population density in the southern areas of its range showed declines in observed numbers from moderately common or abundant, to assessments as locally extinct or very rare by 2012.