Give our Koalas a Fair Go

Redland City has been well known as a part of the Queensland "Koala Coast".
Until a few years ago, koalas wandering the streets of Cleveland was accepted by locals as the norm. The koala was an emblem of Redland City Council.
More recently, the stress of food and habitat loss, and injury and death caused by vehicle strikes and dog attacks has reduced the population to a critically low level.

Now, the Queensland Government has announced its Draft SEQ Koala Conservation, Strategy, with maps showing no protection for large areas of the Redlands formerly protected, and known to contain koalas ...

Redland City has been well known as a part of the Queensland "Koala Coast".
Until a few years ago, koalas wandering the streets of Cleveland was accepted by locals as the norm. The koala was an emblem of Redland City Council.
More recently, the stress of food and habitat loss, and injury and death caused by vehicle strikes and dog attacks has reduced the population to a critically low level.

Now, the Queensland Government has announced its Draft SEQ Koala Conservation, Strategy, with maps showing no protection for large areas of the Redlands formerly protected, and known to contain koalas.
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We are in danger of having no koalas in mainland Redland City.
Our koalas deserve a fair go - it's their Redlands too!

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Minister Enoch your Draft Koala Conservation Strategy won't save the Koala

239 emails sent

The Draft SEQ Koala Conservation Strategy is a poorly devised effort to attempt to accommodate the competing needs and desires of developers, government and koalas for land. The koalas will not be the primary beneficiaries of this strategy.
The public consultation is constrained to commentary about selected aspects, some of them trivial, and the duration if far too short for a subject of this importance.
Please send your email to Minister Enoch demanding a more consultative and stronger strategy to protect the koala. A draft is available for your use by clicking on the button above, and adding your specific comments to the draft.

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Dear Minister Enoch,

The Draft South East Queensland Koala Conservation Strategy 2019-2024 (KCS) appears to be a seriously flawed document and it is difficult to see how it can slow the catastrophic decline of koalas in SEQ. To rely on so-called safe bushland areas to save the SEQ koala population is naïve and ill-informed. Changes to legislation to relocate koalas from urban areas are not the answer, especially given the danger from fires in large bushland areas.

The implementation of the public consultation phase of the KCS is extremely limited. It appears to be a “tick-the-box” exercise designed to severely limit true public participation in the planning process.  Some of the multiple-choice questions in the survey illustrate the somewhat trivial nature of possible responses.

Minister, we need to acknowledge the over-riding and disproportionate impact of the loss of habitat, and be prepared to act in favour of the koalas over the competing desires of the property development industry and government itself.  If survival of koalas in South-East Queensland is important, then this demands a much more balanced strategy in favour of the koalas than this draft.

I wish you to accept and deal with the following points in revising the Draft KCS:-

1. The KCS is deficient in its understanding of koala ecology and how koalas use habitat at a landscape scale.
2. This is demonstrated by the draft koala habitat mapping failing to protect habitat areas and movement corridors where many of our koalas are living right now as evidenced by koala sightings recorded in the Atlas of Living Australia.
3. Land removed from the Government’s existing mapping of Koala Habitat ahead of the draft strategy being released (including at Shoreline and south west Victoria Point) should be reinstated.
4. The KCS mapping has largely removed protection along the coastal areas which is likely to become critical habitat with Climate Change making western areas less viable for koalas.
5. Areas of Redlands mapped previously as being of state environmental significance should be included as Koala Habitat, especially if ground-truthing evidence shows koala activity.
6. The proposal to let property owners have automatic rights to clear up to 500 m2 in Koala Habitat areas should be replaced with an impact assessment process.
7. The exemption allowing firebreaks to be developed and maintained in Koala Habitat areas is supported, provided that there are rules to prevent abuse.
8. It is imperative that strong planning laws to protect Koala Habitat are implemented as previous legislation has failed to protect koalas and their habitat due to ‘loopholes’ and lack of enforcement.
9. The targets to reduce koala mortality are too low and must be increased especially in areas such as the Redlands where koala populations have declined by at least 80%. 
10. A moratorium on clearing of koala trees in Koala Priority Areas should be implemented (with effective sanctions) until the Strategy and Koala Habitat mapping are finalised.
11. The use of financial offsets as a mechanism for property owners and developers to buy the right to destroy koala habitat is unacceptable.
12. Analysis of overall gain/loss of koala habitat in south east Queensland should recognize that areas close to the coast such as the Redlands can sustain more koalas per hectare than other areas further west where it’s hotter and drier.
13. Public consultation periods for Koala Habitat mapping (to 22 December 2019) and the draft Strategy (to 31 January 2020) are inadequate.  Both periods should be extended, and the feedback mechanism broadened to permit feedback on unsolicited areas of the strategy.
14. The Government should undertake extensive community consultation about its strategy and mapping in Redland City, including drop-in sessions and speaking at a public meeting.

It is imperative that you take a fresh approach truly focused on saving koalas from extinction in South-East Queensland.

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