Baird Government driving koala's to extinction

A lack of funding and government neglect could see the koala population driven to extinction on the North Coast of NSW.

The NSW Scientific Committee recently announced its intention to upgrade the status of the North Coast koalas from vulnerable to endangered as they “face a very high risk of extinction.”

On the NSW North Coast, the Baird Government is spending a meagre $45,000 in 2015/16 financial year to protect koala populations despite their numbers plummeting by a third in just 20 years.

The Baird Government’s responses to Opposition questions during Budget Estimates have shown the Government is failing to provide the necessary financial support and environmental protections to safeguard the state’s koala populations.

In the past three financial years, the Government has spent $530,000 on protecting Northern NSW koala populations.
The lack of government funding, logging and infrastructure projects on the North Coast are placing even more pressure on the iconic Australian animal as land clearing reduces their former habitats by 75 per cent.

Infrastructure projects have also put pressure on the Northern NSW koala populations with the Broadwater – Ballina Pacific Highway upgrade set to bisect a significant koala population.

The Government’s refusal to support a Great Koala National Park that would protect 315,000 hectares inland from Coffs Harbour near the Macleay River is also building the pressure.

If delivered, the park would protect 20 per cent of the North Coast’s koala population which is estimated to now be as low as just 4500.

NSW Opposition has called on the Government to protect North Coast koalas by:

• Investing more funding in koala recovery plans and support local communities in their efforts to stop their extinction;
• Taking seriously the threat to koalas with the Ballina bypass and take action to stop the decimation of this population; and
• Stopping logging in vital koala habitat and instead support the creation of a Great Koala National Park.

Shadow Minister for Environment Penny Sharpe says:

“It is do or die time for the koalas of the North Coast”

“The decisions the NSW Government makes in the next five years will determine whether our grandchildren will ever be able to see koalas in the wild on the north coast of NSW.”