Right now the Queensland Government is seeking community feedback on the draft South East Queensland Koala Conservation Strategy. This has the potential to deliver meaningful protections for South East Queensland’s koalas, if accompanied by stronger laws to protect all remaining koala habitat. The draft Strategy follows on from a 2017 report by the government’s own Koala Expert Panel, where scientists pointed to habitat loss as the leading cause of declining koala numbers in Queensland. They stated:

Imagine Queensland without koalas. Without action to stop habitat loss, that’s where we’re headed.

Right now the Queensland Government is seeking community feedback on the draft South East Queensland Koala Conservation Strategy. This has the potential to deliver meaningful protections for South East Queensland’s koalas, if accompanied by stronger laws to protect all remaining koala habitat. The draft Strategy follows on from a 2017 report by the government’s own Koala Expert Panel, where scientists pointed to habitat loss as the leading cause of declining koala numbers in Queensland. They stated:

“urgent interventions are required to more effectively limit impacts of development and land clearing on koala habitat” (Koala Expert Panel Report, p.iii).

The Queensland Government promised to act on this expert scientific advice under a new ‘Koala Conservation Strategy’ supported by changes to the laws that control urban tree-clearing. This Strategy has been two years in the making, with the development industry pushing hard to water down any proposed changes to the laws.

The release of this draft Strategy is a meaningful first step toward conserving koalas in South East Queensland. This is the result of people power.

We’ve analysed the new draft Strategy in conjunction with our friends at the Environmental Defenders Office and the Queensland Conservation Council. The draft Strategy proposes some changes for better protection of koala habitat. These changes only apply to South East Queensland at this stage, with a suggestion that reforms could be extended to habitat outside South East Queensland at a later stage. The strategy includes improved koala habitat mapping and giving the State Government control over development and clearing of koala habitat.

Unfortunately, the draft Strategy alone is not enough—our koalas are desperately in need of new laws that will truly protect them from further clearing of their core habitat. The Government has promised to strengthen planning laws and the Environmental Offsets Policy, but these changes are yet to be released. We need strong laws that will:

Prohibit further clearing of core koala habitat (unless it absolutely cannot be avoided for safety reasons or genuine essential services);

Result in a net gain in the area of koala habitat across our region ; and

Overhaul ‘environmental offsets’ so they aren’t used to justify clearing of koala habitat.

This draft Strategy comes at a crucial time to address the weaknesses in our laws and deliver the changes needed to protect koala populations in Queensland.

Join us in giving koalas their best chance at surviving and thriving by making a submission to the draft South East Queensland Koala Conservation Strategy. We need to keep pressure on the Government to deliver stronger laws to protect koala habitat.

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