NSW Nationals push for koala sanctuaries, Labor skeptical

Nationals delegates at Broken Hill on Saturday voted to speed up the recommended whole-of-government Koala Strategy and create more sanctuaries on the North Coast, both for conservation and tourism.

And, with seven seats between the state Coalition and a change of government, Oxley MP Melinda Pavey acknowledged her motion would also counter a promise by Opposition leader Luke Foley to establish new Koala National Parks. 

Koalas are often held up as collateral damage of the timber industry, and their population and protection is a controversial topic in communities suffering from a downturn in forestry.

Last week The Sydney Morning Herald wrote about the report from December that said the state's koala population had shrunk by about a quarter over the last 20 years to about 36,000.

The report by the state’s Chief Scientist also recommended a whole-of-government koala strategy. 

Ms Pavey said balancing rural industry with koala conservation was a delicate issue in the state’s northern electorates, including hers and that of Tweed MP Geoff Provest, acknowledging many voters didn't “have a rural or farming background”.

She also highlighted the threat of Labor as a reason for her motion. 

“We have an Opposition leader who wants to be Premier, and he’s only even seats away from doing that, and we will fight that,” she said.

“One of the things (Luke Foley) wants to do in my patch is create a great koala national park.

“It’s a very difficult thing to debate koalas in the wider community… where we have a lot of people who have moved there, who may not have a rural or farming background.

“We do need to increase the koala population on the North Coast. We want to put them in places they can grow and give them the species of trees they need.”

NSW Labor’s environmental spokeswoman Penny Sharpe said the debate did not really pursue conservation. 

“Losing seats, not saving koalas, is at the core of the crocodile tears shed at the National Party conference,” Ms Sharpe said. 

“If the Member for Oxley and the Member for Tweed want to demonstrate real commitment to saving koalas, I urge them to rethink the policies and laws that they have supported in Government that are driving this iconic species to the brink of extinction.”

South Coast-based Nationals MLC Rick Colless spoke against his colleague’s motion, stating that the state's Chief Scientist’s whole-of-government koala strategy had already identified the actions needed to stabilise and increase koala numbers.

Dubbo branch delegate Mike Blake – whose background is in Natural Resource Management and ecology- supported the motion but worried ‘that a lot of information needed to be clarified’. 

“One thing we have to get something very clear, that koalas under the federal Enviromental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation act, are not endangered,” he said. 

“The fact is, their habitat is listed as vulnerable. And that’s something that the Greenies will say – I’ve heard it ad nauseum – that they’re endangered.”

Mr Blake was also concerned what a sanctuary would constitute. 

“I don’t know how you define a sanctuary. This is what worries me. Is it a fenced are or an area of several hundred kilometres where the animal still moves around? 

“Re-population is not a problem if they are managed properly. 

Conference carried Ms Pavey’s motion – but not unanimously.