DEAR News Of The Area,

Gurmesh Singh talks large sums of money (as reported in NOTA on 27 January, 2023) in response to the Labor Party’s announcement of an initial $80m to establish the proposed Great Koala National Park in the Coffs Harbour region.

$190m in fact, says Gurmesh, from the Coalition Government, which he adds is the biggest commitment by any government to protect koalas in the wild.

But wait a while Gurmesh, how much of it is being spent on protecting koalas in the wild in the two koala meta-populations which make up the proposed Great Koala National Park?

One of those, the Guy Fawkes – Coffs Harbour koala meta-population was recognised as perhaps the best wild population of koalas in the World, or at least was until the 2019-20 fires.

The meta-population was smashed by the fires and could really do with a large share of the $190m to help it
recover.

The north western section and the other meta-population in the proposed Great Koala National Park, the Bellingen-Nambucca-Macleay meta-population, largely escaped the fires and investment in that area should also be a priority.

Spending $43.4 m on science and research is a noble intention if the need is really there, and it’s not
funding competing knowledge empires amongst bureaucrats and academics and avoiding real habitat protection.

The bulging proliferation of descriptions of koalas and their habitats include: koala hubs and arcs, bioregional assessments, areas of regional koala significance, koala habitat suitability models, focus areas, frameworks for spatial prioritisation, habitat mapping, habitat connectivity, koala tree indexes and refuges.

That’s as well as koalas being increasingly pursued by sniffer dogs, drones, scat collectors and listening devices.

Surely all this must be an expensive overreach and must make a poor koala’s head spin.

It’s time to set aside some significant koala reserves, like the Chinese did for the Giant Panda, and similarly improve its conservation status.

Regards,
Ashley LOVE,
Coffs Harbour.