PENNY SHARPE MLC
NSW LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
NSW SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

In the shadow of the federal election, the NSW Government has today quietly listed koalas as officially endangered across all of New South Wales.

“Today is a very dark day for koalas in NSW. 12 years of neglect from the Liberal and National Government has led to our most iconic animal, the koala, closer to extinction than ever before.” Shadow Minister for the Environment, Penny Sharpe said.

The Government Gazette has today published the official Final Determination (nsw.gov.au) from the NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee under the Biodiversity Conservation Act that upgrades the classification for koalas to endangered across all of NSW.

This determination** states: “in the opinion of the NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee, it Phascolarctos cinereus (Koala) Goldfuss 1817 is facing a very high risk of extinction in the near future as determined in accordance with the criteria prescribed by the Act and the Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017”.

Shadow Minister for the Environment Penny Sharpe said:

“As the Nationals and Liberals have fought the koala wars they have been slow to act on climate change, accelerated land clearing, cut funding to National Parks and refused to follow advice from Natural Resources Commission on saving forests.

“The Threatened Species Scientific Committee has made it clear that deforestation, land clearing, urbanisation, the destruction of wild life corridors coupled with the impacts of climate change are pushing koalas to the brink.

“Under successive Environment Ministers there has been too much talk and not enough action to save koalas. Labor calls on the NSW Government to make the serious changes needed to turn this terrible trajectory around. Labor offers its support to ensure that koalas in NSW survive in the wild.”