Tag Archives: koala habitat loss

Koalas over Barilaro any day

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NSW PREMIER GLADYS Berejiklian will stand her ground and refuse the Nationals’ demands for an urgent cabinet meeting to debate planning policy relating to koalas.

Her stance is likely to infuriate the junior Coalition partner, which has threatened to boycott a joint party room meeting next week ahead of a parliamentary sitting period.

It may also see two Nationals MPs, Chris Gulaptis and Gurmesh Singh, sit on the crossbench next week, which would leave the Berejiklian government without a majority in the lower house.

The issue is causing bitter division in the Coalition and threatens to split the government.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro on Monday asked Ms Berejiklian to hold a special cabinet meeting on September 14 to urgently debate issues around the guidelines which form part of a State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) that seeks to protect koala habitat.

BREAKING NEWS: HOW DID MONARO ELECT SUCH A FOOL?
NSW Berejiklian government in chaos as Nationals quit over koala protection policy
By Anne Davies, The Guardian. 10 September 2020

The Nationals want Planning Minister Rob Stokes to agree to a raft of changes, including the definition of core koala habitat, before Parliament resumes next Tuesday.

But on Tuesday Ms Berejiklian ruled out the special meeting and said the issue would be added to a further cabinet agenda. She also backed Mr Stokes.

“There are scheduled cabinet meetings and of course, that issue will be discussed at a scheduled cabinet meeting,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“I’m really pleased with the way in which Mr Stokes has listened to the concerns of members and I feel that he has continued to provide a good balance where we protect one of our most loved species but also protect the property rights of people.”

… CONTINUE READING
By Alexandra Smith, The Sydney Morning Herald.  8 September 2020
IMAGE SOURCE, ILLUSTRATION: District Bulletin

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National Party at it again: SCRAP KOALA PROTECTION

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NSW-koala-habitat-logging_AWPCsept2020

Chris Gulaptis MP and the Nationals declare war on koalas

CLARENCE NATIONAL PARTY MP Chris Gulaptis has opened a new front in the National Party’s war on koalas and conservation by demanding the new laws designed to prevent the species’ extinction be scrapped. [1]

“On current trends, koalas are on track to become extinct in NSW by 2050,” Nature Conservation Council CEO Chris Gambian said.

“The laws that Mr Gulaptis wants to tear up were drafted well before the summer bushfires, which killed thousands, wiped out local populations and pushed many others closer to extinction.

“If anything, the government should be considering strengthening laws to protect this iconic species.”

Mr Gambian said Mr Gulaptis’s threat to sit on the cross benches if the government didn’t scrap koala protections was the latest in a series of attacks by National MPs on koalas.

“Nationals Leader John Barilaro has aggressively pushed to continue logging koala forests after the bushfires destroyed millions of hectares of prime habitat,” Mr Gambian said.

“Several forests on the north coast that were among the last unburned koalas forests in the state have been targeted by Forestry Corporation for intensive logging with the state government’s blessing.

“The Nationals are also behind moves to slash and burn national parks and allow cows to trample conservation reserves.

“If we want our children and grandchildren to see koalas in the wild, we have to stop destroying their forests.

“If Mr Gulaptis and John Barilaro get their way, the demise of the koala is guaranteed to happen even faster than projected.”

[1] We can’t bear this nationals’ revolt, Daily Telegraph, 2-9-2020

— MEDIA RELEASE.  GRAPHIC: Sue Van Homrigh, AWPC.

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‘Fundamental failure’: Environment Department not protecting koala habitat

koala-habitat-loss-Leard-State-Forest-NSW-cr-Maria-Taylor-March2016

By Mike Foley, The Sydney Morning Herald.

Only 10 percent of the koala habitat cleared in NSW and Queensland between 2012 and 2017 was assessed by the federal government, despite national environment law requiring protection for threatened species.

KOALAS WERE LISTED as a vulnerable species in 2012 and of the 160,000 hectares of known and likely habitat cleared up to 2017, 90 percent was not reviewed by the federal government for its impact to the species. The new figures are revealed in an analysis of government development approval registers by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF).

SEEN ABOVE:  Koala displaced by habitat loss, Leard State Forest, NSW. Image Maria Taylor, District Bulletin March 2016.

Significant challenges confront koalas after last summer’s bushfires. Environment Minister Sussan Ley warned earlier this year that their status in some areas of their range may be upgraded to endangered. But since the species was listed as threatened, there has not been one enforcement action taken by the federal government against unapproved clearing of habitat.

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act requires the federal government to assess developments which could impact the health of threatened species, as well as World Heritage areas.

… CONTINUE READING

In a submission to the Victorian government the AWPC have formulated a number of recommendations:

The Building Blocks of Extinction and Biodiversity Loss in Victoria

Australian Wildlife Protection Council submissions to the Parliamentary Inquiry into the extinction crisis in Victoria.

… READ SUBMISSION HERE

 

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