The Federal Government is boosting the level of protection for Koalas under National Environmental law, and will this week seek agreement from Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory on the National Recovery plan. On Friday February 11th 2022 their listing was changed from 'vulnerable' to 'endangered'.

The decision is welcomed by Pittwater residents, who witnessed their local population become extinct by the late 1980s, through dog attacks, habitat destruction and placing unsurmountable obstacles  such as, in one instance, building a retirement village to block their passageway from food trees at south Avalon to north Avalon.

Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley said “We are taking unprecedented action to protect the koala, working with scientists, medical researchers, veterinarians, communities, states, local governments and Traditional Owners,” Minister Ley said.

“As part of our $200 million bushfire response, I asked the Threatened Species Scientific Committee to consider the status of the Koala. 

“Today I am increasing the protection for koalas in NSW, the ACT and Queensland listing them as endangered rather than their previous designation of vulnerable.

“The impact of prolonged drought, followed by the black summer bushfires, and the cumulative impacts of disease, urbanisation and habitat loss over the past twenty years have led to the advice.

“Together we can ensure a healthy future for the koala and this decision, along with the total $74 million we have committed to koalas since 2019 will play a key role in that process.

“The new listing highlights the challenges the species is facing and ensures that all assessments under the Act will be considered not only in terms of their local impacts, but with regard to the wider koala population. 

“The National plan developed through scientific advice and public consultation will now go to the relevant states for their final adoption and will help guide state and local government strategies.”

The decision follows a joint nomination by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Humane Society International (HSI) and WWF-Australia in April 2020 to Australia’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee.

Koalas in Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory will now be classified as Endangered under national legislation and will gain elevated protections. The decision also recognises the koala is one step further along the pathway to extinction.

“Koalas are an international and national icon, but they were living on a knife edge before the Black Summer bushfires with numbers in severe decline due to land-clearing, drought, disease, car strikes and dog attacks. The bushfires were the final straw, hitting at the heart of already struggling koala populations and critical habitat,” IFAW Oceania Regional Director Rebecca Keeble said.

“This decision is a double-edged sword. We should never have allowed things to get to the point where we are at risk of losing a national icon. It is a dark day for our nation. If we can’t protect an iconic species endemic to Australia, what chance do lesser known but no less important species have?

“This must be a wake-up call to Australia and the government to move much faster to protect critical habitat from development and land-clearing and seriously address the impacts of climate change.”

The nomination was submitted on the basis of two scientific reports which revealed Queensland’s koala population crashed by at least 50% since 2001 and up to 62% of the NSW koala population has been lost over the same period.

IFAW also welcomed the federal government’s recent $50AUD million pledge for koala recovery and habitat restoration.

“These actions are vital to ensure the survival of the species into the future, but without addressing the root cause of their decline which is habitat loss and climate change, we are just plugging holes in a sinking ship. We must do everything possible to implement the plan and save this iconic species,” Ms Keeble said.

In January 2022, the Australian Government announced an additional $50 million over 4 years to maintain and support the recovery and conservation of the Koala through monitoring, the protection of Koala habitats, and the improvement of Koala health and care in response to natural disasters such as bushfires and diseases including Chlamydia.

This funding injection builds upon the $18 million Koala conservation package announced in 2020, which includes $14 million in bushfire recovery funding, given the impact of the 2019-20 bushfires on the species and its habitats.

The additional $50 million Koala investment includes:

• $20 million in grants and procurements for larger projects led by Natural Resource Management groups, NGOs, and Indigenous groups, as well as state and territory governments to build on existing work, guided by the outcomes and findings of the National Koala Monitoring Program.
• $10 million to extend the National Koala Monitoring Program to fill critical knowledge gaps and increase the use of citizen scientists
• $10 million in grants for small-scale community projects and local activities such as habitat protection and restoration, managing threats, health and care facilities, and citizen science projects
• $2 million in grants to improve Koala health outcomes through applied research activities and the practical application of research outcomes to address fundamental health challenges such as Koala retrovirus, Koala herpes viruses and Chlamydia
• $1 million to expand the national training program in Koala care, treatment and triage

The $18 million Koala Conservation package (to June 2022) includes:

• $10 million to support habitat restoration and threat mitigation in bushfire-affected regions of New South Wales and south-east Queensland
• $2 million for Koala protection and recovery at additional sites identified from the Investment Framework for Environmental Resources (INFFER) workshops held in northern New South Wales (funded under the Environment Restoration Fund)
• $2 million for habitat restoration and threat mitigation in other non-bushfire affected regions of central and western New South Wales and central Queensland(funded under the Environment Restoration Fund)
• $2 million for a Koala Health Initiative to support coordination and delivery of more effective health research and to support Koala veterinary activities
• $2 million for a National Koala Monitoring Program to produce a robust estimate of the national Koala population and fill key data gaps identified through the Koala re-assessment and recovery plan development process.

In addition, Australian Government commitments to the Koala under the Environment Restoration Fund include:

• $3 million to support Koala hospitals in south east Queensland (announced in December 2019)
• $3 million to support habitat restoration in northern New South Wales and south east Queensland (announced in November 2019).

The Save Sydney's Koalas group, which has a focus of trying to save the south-west Sydney’s koalas population, the only chlamydia-free Koala population of any significant size in NSW, asked, on hearing of the announcement;

''Will this be a game changer for Campbelltown Council, NSW Government, developers including Lendlease , Walkers, and super companies Australian Ethical Investments who continue to participate and invest in Koala destruction?''

''Despite the draft national koala recovery plan describing the Campbelltown koala population as one of only two large, expanding, and Chlamydia free populations left in NSW and the second one now being in decline because of drought and Chlamydia, bulldozers are still destroying their habitat and wildlife corridors here. 

Neither Sussan Ley nor the NSW government has done anything to protect them and in fact, BioCertification credits from Mount Gilead were sent to west Appin near Douglas Park and Fernhill near Mulgoa. Landcom, Lendlease, and Walkers are systematically eliminating koalas and other native species from the landscape.''