The State Government’s strong support for property development in south east Queensland over the past few decades means that land is continually being rezoned for residential development and the density of development is steadily increasing.

Trees get removed to make way for houses, apartments and shops.  The koalas have to move on and cope with the twin stress of shrinking habitat and increased threats from human activity (cars and dogs).

The government seems to think it would be convenient if koalas lived happily in the patches of bushland that developers don’t want to build houses on. But much of this bushland is in areas that are dry with poor soil. The gum leaves are not so tasty in these areas. Unsurprisingly, the koala population prefers to live in trees growing on the better soil closer to the coast.

A key point to note is that koala habitat can’t be measured uniformly by the hectare. We need to consider the differing koala carrying capacities of bushland in each part of south east Queensland.

In 2017 the State government published a regional plan for south east Queensland which included the objective of no reduction in koala habitat. It was a pathetically weak objective.

But with its draft south east Queensland Koala Conservation Strategy the State Government is setting the stage for a massive reduction of koala habitat in the areas such as Redlands and Pine Rivers where koalas want to live. And there is no guarantee that koalas will conveniently move to other less congenial areas of no interest to the property development industry, just yet.

We need a proper strategy that really focuses on ensuring the survival of koalas in the wild in south east Queensland. It should include reductions in areas zoned for dense residential development and increases in efforts to protect koala movement corridors. It should be about keeping koalas with us for the foreseeable future instead of legitimising their extinction.