Koalas can’t be listed as endangered

Berejiklian government changes the law so koalas in Port Stephens can’t be listed as endangered

Extract from a report written by Damon Cronshaw for the Newcastle Herald posted 19th December 2017

“The Berejiklian government has destroyed the chances of the Port Stephens koala population being listed as endangered,” Kate Washington says. Ms Washington, the Port Stephens MP, asserted that reclassifying Port Stephens koalas from vulnerable to endangered would have enabled these iconic Australian marsupials to receive more support and funding…  Koalas are listed as vulnerable in NSW. However, the independent NSW Scientific Committee made a preliminary finding that the koala population near Port Stephens was endangered because it was “facing a very high risk of extinction in the near future”… The scientific committee estimated the number of mature koalas in Port Stephens at about 800, but said it could be fewer given recent fire history…People were working hard in Port Stephens to “bring our local koala population back from the brink of extinction”.

“In contrast, the NSW government has sold off prime koala habitat to a developer and legislated against higher protections for our local koala population,” she said Ms Washington.

[The koala population in the Port Macquarie / Hasting LGA on the mid-north coast is thought to be a low as 2,000 with the prospect of extinction with 25 years. While Koala politiKs are being played out the koala is slipping ever closer to extinction.]

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