Koalas in need of their park

The annual meeting follows the NSW Nationals’ motion to endorse ‘koala sanctuaries’ – a decision that National Parks Association of NSW (NPA) said is below what’s needed to save the species. 

“The motion, which called on the NSW Government to speed up the development of the whole-of-government koala strategy and to create koala sanctuaries that sound more like refugees camps, is conservation Nationals’ style,” NPA Senior Ecologist, Dr Oisín Sweeney said.

“In essence, the Nationals seem to be proposing the creation of enclosures into which will be placed koalas that are injured or displaced via logging and land clearing. Queensland has seen a dramatic increase in the number of koalas being brought into care since land clearing laws were relaxed.

“We’ve got a great koala sanctuary ready to go that will protect koalas in their natural habitat, protect some of NSW’s most important koala populations and give a huge economic boost to the Coffs coast. It’s called the Great Koala National Park (GKNP).

“NSW Labor and the Greens have already thrown their support behind the GKNP. If the Nationals are serious about protecting koalas, we call on them to knock on the Environment Minister’s door and make it happen. 

“This will require some soul searching from the Nationals, because it’s their determination to facilitate land clearing and industrial-scale logging.

“However, now that the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) has released modelling showing that the best koala habitat is found in state forests, it’s become difficult in the face of spiralling declines in koala numbers to deny the impact that logging is having on the world’s favourite animal.

“The DPI modelling also confirmed what we already knew: that the GKNP is in exactly the right place to protect koala habitats of national significance.

“What’s more, the GKNP is comprised entirely of public land, meaning that the conservation bang for buck is orders of magnitude greater than building expensive enclosures that must be maintained indefinitely.

“Koalas don’t do well when moved around. The best thing we can do is create the GKNP.”