Australia’s koala conservationists want Australia’s future prime minister to learn from the “American success story” in which the US bald eagle has been saved from extinction.

A new Koala Protection Act – already written by barristers and discussed with senior federal politicians – must come into effect within the next decade or wild koalas on Australia’s east coast will be extinct, the Australian Koala Foundation believes.

Deborah Tabart, chief executive of the Australian Koala Foundation.

Foundation chair Deborah Tabart OAM has written to Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Labor leader Bill Shorten to ask whoever becomes Australia’s prime minister after the election on May 18 for urgent action to protect koalas.

“I am calling on the new prime minister after the May election to enact the Koala Protection Act (KPA) which has been written and ready to go since 2016,” she said.