The plight of koalas in NSW has garnered significant attention in recent years. There have been multiple government policies and programs aimed specifically at koala protection and conservation, reports by the NSW Chief Scientist, and a parliamentary inquiry into koalas and their habitat.
The current Koala Strategy, like many other recent initiatives for koala conservation, is focused mainly on increased funding for programs, land acquisition and policy changes. These are all important initiatives.
However, one of the key gaps in the NSW Koala Strategy and other initiatives to date, is action to strengthen laws to effectively curb habitat loss and fragmentation from activities such as land clearing, urban development, industry, infrastructure and forestry on public and private land. Without legislative reform to address habitat clearing, there is a real risk that efforts to increase koala conservation on one hand will be undermined by lax laws that continue to allow habitat destruction on the other.
EDO’s submission to the NSW Koala Strategy Review focuses primarily on the role of the law in koala conservation and highlights that effective implementation and regulatory reform of laws is a key gap in the NSW Government’s Koala Strategy
