Warren calls on Gladys to act on koalas

Campbelltown MP Greg Warren is calling on the Berejiklian Government to immediately release the much delayed NSW Koala Strategy.

He says NSW has been without a plan to save its koala population, including the local population here in Campbelltown – the last remaining disease-free koala population in the state, for five years.

“We need a Koala Recovery Plan and we need one now,’’ Mr Warren said this morning.

“How much more time does the government need before it will take action to save Campbelltown’s koalas?

“We’ve now gone five years without a comprehensive koala plan in NSW, and as we move closer and closer towards the extinction of koalas, the Government continues to sit on its hands and do nothing about the problem.

“When future generations ask who is responsible for the extinction of koalas in NSW, the answer will be the Liberal Government of the 2010s,’’ the Campbelltown MP said.

Scientists have previously warned that on current trends the iconic koala is on track to be extinct by as early as 2055.

Last week marked a full year since public consultation closed on the Government’s proposed NSW Koala Strategy, but the strategy has still not been released. The previous plan, initiated by the former Labor Government, lapsed.

Since 2011, the NSW Liberal Government has done more to harm koalas than save them, including:

• introducing land clearing laws that could see 8 million hectares of core koala habitat across the state destroyed;
• refusing to support Labor’s plan for a Great Koala National Park;
• allowing housing development in core koala habitat in the Macarthur region without any protections for the only chlamydia-free koala population in NSW.