Australia is estimated to have 750,000 different species of plants, animals and insects, but about 70% are either undiscovered or have not been formally described in the scientific literature.
The academyâs proposal would see all of Australiaâs species properly documented and recorded over the next 25 years.
The Deloitte Access Economics report says such a mission could deliver between $3.7bn and $28.9bn in economic returns over the next 25 years.
Economic benefits include the discovery of new drugs, improvements to biosecurity with invasive species easier to identify, and new crops developed from hybridisation of newly discovered species.
Associate Prof Kevin Thiele, director of the academyâs Taxonomy Australia organisation, said: âEvery species that is lost â especially those lost before we even find them â is a lost opportunity.