14 July
2006 - A recent scientific assessment has revealed
that Australia’s koala population is not at risk
of extinction, the Minister for the Environment
and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell, announced
today.
Advice from the Australian Government’s
Threatened Species Scientific Committee has confirmed
that koalas number in the hundreds of thousands
and are not threatened on a national scale.
Senator Campbell has accepted
the Committee’s advice that the koala does not
need to be listed as threatened under federal
environment legislation.
“This is reassuring news for
Australia’s koala population and good news for
those many Australians who have a deep fondness
for this native Australian icon,” Senator Campbell
said.
“This is the third time that
an Australian Government scientific committee
has considered scientific evidence for the koala,
and the third time that the evidence has shown
it is not nationally threatened.
“The news is also supported
by the World Conservation Union’s Red List of
Threatened Species, which, at its recent update,
continues to include the koala in its lower risk
category,” he said.
The koala was nominated for
listing under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity
Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) and was thoroughly
assessed by an independent panel of experts based
on the best scientific information available.
The nomination was also subject to a two-month
public comment period.
“Given a recent scientific report
regarding the status of a retrovirus associated
with the koala, however, I have asked the Threatened
Species Scientific Committee to review the conservation
status of the koala in two years time,” Senator
Campbell said.
“While the Committee’s advice
to me that the koala is not at threat nationally
is reassuring, it did find that some local koala
populations, subject to severe localised threats,
have undergone large declines in numbers in recent
years.
“It is important that these
local koala habitats are the focus of protection,
restoration and rehabilitation work.
“These local populations are
recognised under state environment legislation
and are therefore largely managed by the relevant
state governments.
“Given the importance that the
Australian Government places on the koala as a
key aspect of our biodiversity and cultural heritage
however, I am announcing today a range of new
initiatives to support work to protect the koala
at the local and state level.
Senator Campbell said the Australian
Government would provide funding of $100,000 to
regional groups to help create ‘Koala Corridors’
through protection and restoration of koala habitat
in adjacent regions in the south east of Queensland
and the north of New South Wales.
He said this funding assistance
comes on top of more than $450,000 that the Australian
Government has provided over the past four years
to help community groups and individuals conserve
and restore koala habitat.
The Australian Government also
announced funding of $2.5 million in the Budget
for the expansion of the Australian Wildlife Hospital,
of which Australia’s koala population will be
a major beneficiary, particularly in Australia’s
fastest growing region in south-east Queensland.
Senator Campbell has also foreshadowed
to his state and territory colleagues that the
Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council
could help to review and update the National Koala
Conservation Strategy, first published in 1998.
“Reviewing the National Koala
Conservation Strategy would provide an opportunity
to update and enhance nationally consistent objectives
for the protection of local koala populations
that are under threat,” Senator Campbell said.
“I have also written to my state
and territory counterparts about building on the
work that some jurisdictions and the Australian
Koala Foundation are doing to minimise the threats
facing Koala populations at the interface between
bush and urban areas.
“The establishment of a ‘koala
friendly’ standard for developers could provide
valuable assistance to developers, planners and
community groups in managing the potential risks
to koala habitat while meeting the needs of our
growing society.”
Rob Broadfield
