FEDERAL Member for Paterson, Meryl Swanson has expressed her anger at the Morrison Government’s recent koala announcement.

The Morrison Government has recently announced an investment of $50 million to boost the long-term protection and recovery efforts for Australia’s Koalas.

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However, not everyone is impressed with this announcement, believing that it is not a real effort towards koala protection and rather, a political move approaching the upcoming federal election.

“This announcement is a shameful grab for votes that will do nothing to protect the vulnerable species.

“Environment Minister Sussan Ley’s recent visit to Oakvale Wildlife Park was nothing more than a photo opportunity,” Ms Swanson said.

The Minister gave no guarantees that any funds would come to Port Stephens koala care and conservation groups.

“Minister Ley also did not guarantee to reject projects like the Brandy Hill Quarry, which she approved in 2020, that wiped out 52 hectares of koala habitat,” Ms Swanson said.

On 12 February 2022, the conservation status of koalas in NSW, QLD and the ACT was changed from ‘vulnerable’ to ‘endangered’.

This decision follows a lengthy period after Minister Ley’s announcement that she would receive advice by October 2021, with Ms Swanson writing to the Minister last month requesting an upgrade to the status.

Yet, it is only now that the status has been officially changed.

Koala populations have declined by 50 percent in the last twenty years, and by 30 percent between 2018 and 2021 due to the deadly bushfires.

“Land clearing is the biggest threat to the koala, which could be extinct in NSW by 2050 unless immediate action is taken.

“This government has allowed thousands of hectares of koala habitat to be lost to projects such as Brandy Hill Quarry.

“The Government has not even managed to replace the National Koala Conservation and Management Strategy, which ended in 2014,” Ms Swanson said.

Ms Swanson claims that the recent “photo opportunity” could have been so much more.

“Minister Ley patted koalas and posed for photos and invited committed koala carers to take their luck in a grants’ lottery – not good enough, Minister.

“As I said in Parliament this week, if the Morrison Government was serious about saving koalas in Port Stephens it would stump up the money and stop land clearing,” Ms Swanson said.

By Tara CAMPBELL