MANY people have welcomed the news that Federal Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley has designated koalas as an endangered species in NSW, Victoria and Queensland.

Member for Cowper Pat Conaghan said the Mid North Coast proudly boasts one of the largest koala populations of any electorate in the country but to see them now officially registered as endangered is concerning.

Mr Conaghan said there have been multiple rounds of government funding at both a state and federal level dedicated specifically to the Cowper koala population as well as generous contributions to their conservation from non-government sources made to the koala hospital, and he is confident that this will continue.

Mr Conaghan said the $50 million of federal funding announced at the end of January will go towards restoring koala habitat, improving understanding of koala populations, supporting training in koala treatment and care, and strengthening research into koala health outcomes.

“I look forward to seeing the direct benefit to Cowper given our koala credentials and the importance our region plays in their overall population numbers,” he said.

Spokesperson for the Great Koala National Park (GKNP) Committee, Kevin Evans, said that evidence has been mounting for years to support the conservation status change.

He said the reasons for the dramatic decline of koalas are complex, but major factors are the significant weakening of land clearing laws in NSW in favour of development and big agriculture, unsustainable native forest logging, devastating bushfires and an absence of a national approach to koala conservation management.

Mr Evans points out that koalas were listed as vulnerable in NSW and Queensland in 2012 and in those 10 years, the Federal Government has done little to halt the decline in koala numbers.

He said that the $50 million and the endangered listing need to go beyond announcements.

Mr Evans said that the Federal Government must work with State Governments to implement a national Koala Conservation Strategy that strengthens legal protections for koalas and their habitat, including ending native forest logging and establishing a network of protected areas identified as important for koala conservation.

Actions to support this include the declaration of an intention to create the Great Koala National Park to protect the largest population of koalas in NSW, investing in post logging management of the forest to rebuild conservation values funding conservation connectivity efforts to connect forest habitat between protected areas and private lands, funding land owners to manage and preserve their remnant core koala habitat and implementing an industry transition plan to support the forestry sector’s exit from native forest logging to a successful plantation model.

Mr Evans said, “Time is fast running out for koalas in NSW and without stronger legal protection of their habitat, koalas will struggle to exist in the wild beyond 2050.

He said that, fortunately, there is an opportunity to test the resolve of State and Federal Governments to save our koalas.

Environmentalists across the Mid North Coast are asking for bipartisan support for the Great Koala Protected Area Bill (2021), when it comes before the NSW Parliament, to provide habitat protection to help save NSW koalas from extinction.

The Commonwealth could provide policy and funding support to the NSW Government to make this happen as a national priority.

Mr Evans said, “It’s time to put aside entrenched political opposition to koala habitat protection on public lands to save our national icon.”

 

By Andrew VIVIAN