MEDIA RELEASE 29 September 2022

To mark Save the Koala Day (Friday 30 September), the North East Forest Alliance is appealing to the NSW Government to stop approving core Koala habitat for clearing and logging, if they have any genuine intent to stop Koalas becoming extinct in the wild by 2050.

The NSW Government’s spending of tens of millions on Koala hospitals, open range zoos and planting seedlings won’t stop Koalas becoming extinct in the wild unless they save and stabilise surviving Koalas by protecting their existing homes, NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said.

“Every day the NSW Government is allowing the Forestry Corporation to cut down mature Koala feed trees in public forests, and farmers to bulldoze them, while their propaganda arm goes into over-drive pretending that Koalas don’t need their feed trees.

“We know that Koalas only utilise certain individuals of certain species, and that the larger those trees are the more they use them. Protecting these key trees and allowing others to mature is essential for Koala’s survival.

“If the NSW Government is sincere about saving Koalas they need to ensure thorough surveys of potential habitat before clearing or logging is allowed, and to protect any core Koala habitat found.

“For a start they can ditch their current policy that if a logger sees a Koala in a tree they just wait for it to leave before they cut its home down, Mr. Pugh said.