In the decade since east coast koalas were first listed as vulnerable, the federal government has approved the loss of more than 25,000 hectares of habitat, new analysis shows.
Approvals were granted for 63 mostly mining projects in Queensland, NSW and the ACT, the Australian Conservation Foundation says.
They allowed for the collective loss of habitat equivalent to 526,000 average-sized blocks of residential land, or about 10,400 Sydney Cricket Grounds.
Australian Conservation Foundation campaigner Basha Stasak said the amount of habitat approved for clearing has increased every year since 2012, when east coast koalas were listed as vulnerable under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
Veterinarian checking a koala. Source: Pexel/International Fund for Animal Welfare
Of the projects that won approvals to move into, disrupt or destroy koala habitat, 61 per cent were for mining, 12 per cent for transport and 11 per cent for houses.
Ms Stasak says it's difficult to ascertain if all the approved clearing was actually carried out.
But she says the figure of 25,000 hectares is certainly an underestimate because clearing for agriculture is rarely assessed under national environmental laws, and native forest logging is exempt altogether.
"The federal government has just promised $50 million for koalas, but at the same time it continues to knowingly approve the clearing of koala habitat for mines, roads and housing estates," Ms Stasak says.
"The first thing federal and state governments should do for koalas is immediately stop approving the destruction of their homes for commercial projects."
Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley is due to decide within a month or so whether to push the eastern koala up the list of concern after threatened species experts recommended it go from vulnerable to endangered.
A spokesman for the minister says it's important to remember that under the EPBC Act, projects with a "significant impact" on the marsupial must offset it by enhancing koala habitat.
He says the government is supporting "strategic" habitat restoration projects including pest and weed control, and revegetation across eastern Australia.
The $50 million announced about a week ago for koala protection includes $20 million for large-scale habitat and health protection projects.
But ACF says nothing will alter the east coast koala's prospects unless broadscale habitat destruction is halted and the government acts on Graeme Samuel's assessment that the EPBC Act must be overhauled and strengthened.
After a comprehensive review, the former head of the competition watchdog in 2021 concluded Australia's natural environment and iconic places are in a state of decline under the laws designed to protect it.
Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley and Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Source: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas
Koala populations in NSW have fallen between 33 and 61 per cent since 2001 and at least 6400 were killed in the Black Summer bushfires.
In 2020, a NSW parliamentary inquiry found koalas would likely become extinct before 2050 without urgent government intervention to prevent habitat loss.
Queensland's koala population has dropped by at least 50 per cent since 2001 due to deforestation, drought and bushfires.
