Liberals
need support to save Koalas from National Party
The
North East Forest Alliance is calling on people who want core Koala
habitat to be identified and protected from logging to contact the
Liberal Party and encourage them to resist National Party bullying.
The
Koala State Environment Planning Policy (SEPP) was introduced by the
coalition in 1995, with the then National Party member for Ballina,
Don Page, claiming credit for it, NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said.
"The
SEPP basically requires the preparation of Koala Plans of Management
(KPoM) that identify core Koala habitat. These are required to be
prepared for individual Development Applications over core Koala
habitat, though the emphasis is on Councils preparing shire wide
Koala plans.
"Where
Councils identify core Koala habitat it is identified as Sensitive
Regulated Land and therefore can't be cleared under an exemption, and
is excluded from logging under the Private Native Forest logging
codes.
"This
has been intended since the first 1994 Koala SEPP, yet the Koala
inquiry identified that over the last 25 years only 6 comprehensive
KPoMs have been approved, and these are mostly just for parts of
Local Government Areas, and mostly don't identify core Koala habitat.
"The
bipartisan Koala Inquiry found that the regulatory framework for
private native forestry does not protect koala habitat with the
theoretical protections for koalas 'weakened substantially, or indeed
non-existent, when practically applied'.
"In
2019 the Coalition adopted a revamped Koala SEPP that tries to make
the process for identifying core Koala habitat workable.
"Since
then Timber NSW have been worried that if Councils identify core
Koala habitat then they won't be able to log it, and have been
targeting the National Party in a campaign to overturn the SEPP.
"The
current threat by the National Party to resign from the Coalition is
all about trying to make the identification of core Koala habitat
unworkable so that it can continue to be logged and cleared.
"Koalas
had declined by over 50% on the north coast since the Koala SEPP was
first introduced 26 years ago, then in 2019/20 30% of their high
quality habitat was burnt, with losses of 44-100% of Koalas from
firegrounds. Since 2015 clearing of native vegetation has doubled,
with no consideration of Koalas.
"Wild
Koalas will likely go extinct in NSW by 2050 if the National Party
continue like this.
"NEFA
are asking people to email or phone the offices of Premier Gladys
Berejiklian, Planning Minister Rob Stokes and Environment Minister
Matt Kean to thank them for helping protect Koalas against National
Party bullying. Encourage them to provide support to Councils to
complete the mapping of core Koala habitat across NSW within 5 years.
"NEFA
are also asking people to email or phone the offices of north coast
National Party representatives to protest their attempts to remove
protections for Koalas, such as Geoff Provest (Tweed), Chris Gulaptis
(Clarence), Gurmesh Singh (Coffs Harbour), Leslie Williams (Port
Macquarie), Melinda Pavey (Oxley), Stephen Bromhead (Myall Lakes) and
Upper House representative Ben Franklin.
"We
need to show that the community supports Koala protection" Mr.
Pugh said.
Parliamentary
contacts are at:
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