THE Port Stephens Koala Hospital is seeking to upgrade its infrastructure, along with that of its neighbouring Koala Sanctuary, to protect against potential interruptions to power supply.

Ron Land, the president of the Port Stephens Koala and Wildlife Preservation Society, addressed Port Stephens Council at last week’s public forum.

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“We’re confronted with a fairly significant problem,” he told councillors.

The Koala Hospital draws its power from the main feed that comes onto the Sanctuary site but current supply is insufficient to protect both facilities against power outages, particularly during the peak operational periods over Summer.

Ausgrid has identified a potential solution in that the neighbouring Middlerock Caravan Park has 400 amps of unallocated power supply.

Mr Land said this could be redirected with some major underground tunnel and cable work.

The estimated cost for this work is between $550k to $600k.

“I’ve been to the State Government and the Federal Government and there’s been thundering silence [in response] to our request.”

Cr Peter Francis asked whether the organisation had investigated other solutions, such as backup generators, to which Mr Land said that an application for a grant to install such a generator had been denied.

Responding to questions from Cr Mark Watson over how the organisation would like Council to be involved, Mr Land said the organisation understood Port Stephens Council “can’t just pull five or six hundred thousand out of your back pocket.

“But Council can identify sources of funding that could be obtained to upgrade what would effectively be Council infrastructure.”

Mr Land estimated that the cost of infrastructure and development for the Sanctuary and Hospital had amounted to around $20 million since 2019.

By Lindsay HALL