Much has been made in Australia of the plight of one if its iconic animals – the Koala.

This lovable creature has been adored worldwide, and has been the subject of children’s books, video, TV and media stories since settlement of Australia in 1788.

Everybody wants to see us use measures that are aimed at protecting our diverse Australian Native Flora and Fauna.

However, we do not support the current process of political activists in mis-using our native environment to promote hidden agendas that are not in our national interest and are not balanced with reason and sound science.

The koala is now portrayed by many conservationists and activists (especially using the media) as being critically endangered, principally due to loss of habitat, supposedly caused by native forest harvesting practices.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

If there is any example of blatant mistruth, misrepresentation of facts, fraudulent use of animal welfare and emotive practices, to raise money and engender public support, then this is a prime example.

Many would have seen media advertisements portraying the koalas with no home, loss of habitat and threat of extinction by 2050.

When one delves into the background of some of these portrayals, you will find they appear to be either photoshopped, are anecdotal, come from sources outside Australia, or use plantation forests to represent destruction of native forests.

The current process of emotional activism to raise funds worldwide for an apparently at-risk species is what can be called a form of emotional fraud, using misinformation and selected data, most of which has little or no truth in fact or science. In other realms people have been prosecuted for obtaining funds by false pretense and misrepresentation.

Conservationists and extremists love to remind us of the now out of date NSW Senate report of 2020 that reported (by expert opinion rather than expert scientific data) that koalas would be extinct by 2050 if something was not done. Ref1.This is far removed from the truth.

They conveniently do not refer to numerous subsequent science-based research findings through credible field data, that factually indicate that koala populations are healthy and growing. This is supported by:

1. The most recent CSIRO findings  that indicate koala numbers have multiplied at least 10 times in the last 12 years. Ref 2.
2. NSW Dept of Primary Industry recent findings that show koala population growth and forestry selective harvesting can and does co-exist. Ref 3.
3. Previous findings by the Natural Resources Commission that harvesting in native state forest has no negative impact on koala populations. Ref 4.
4. Recent reports provided to the proposed NSW Great Koala Park Inquiry that indicate more than 12,000 koalas exist in the native forest area being considered for the park, an area which has been managed and harvested for over 200 years.

If you are brave enough to speak your mind on the matter, you run the risk of being ridiculed by the hardline activists and various media outlets, sympathetic to their cause and the emotive responses that create news. You can be labelled a “koala killer” because you do not support their views.

Serious questions arise about what the real agenda is.

• Is it the protection of the iconic koala? Or
• Is it the desire to close all forms of native forestry harvesting in Australia no matter what?

Have we really considered the consequences of closing native forests?

• Do we rely on totally imported products often from countries that have little or no support for their own wildlife which we are then condoning the destruction of?
• Native Forest Plantations comprise only about 55,000 hectares in NSW and is totally short of area to replace the current 2 million hectares of Native State Forests accessible for harvesting- still only being 12% of the total Forest Estate- the numbers do not add up.
• Do we want to be totally reliant on the whims and Governments of other countries? This then becomes a sovereignty issue.
• Have we considered the effect of removal of a renewable sustainable resource that is carbon friendly, compared to relying on non-carbon friendly resources such as steel, concrete and plastic?
• The cost of housing is continuing to rise, so are we going to increase this cost further by removing access to a renewable home-grown resource such as timber from our native forests?

If they (forestry activists) cannot win on the koala front they will seek other species to hang their hat on (e.g the Greater Glider, the Swift Parrot etc.).

So, what is the real agenda? Is it protection and management, or destruction of communities and a much-needed well managed  industry?

If the concern is for the koala population itself, why do we not see millions more spent on examining and managing the 88% of forestry in NSW that is protected in National Parks and Crown Lands? We have little public information available on the spending in National parks, or studies therein on koala numbers.

It is common knowledge that many of the megafires that devastated the state of NSW in 2019 originated in National Parks and spread out of control into state forests and private property, causing untold damage, loss of human life and private assets, as well as damage  to native flora and fauna. Little has been done since to address this. We need to look at more prevention measures rather than concentrating on “after the event” responses.

Those promoting locking up more land are doing a major disservice to both flora and fauna protection and degrading the intelligence of the general public by disseminating selective information, and degrading people who actually know how to manage forests. This is a major con job and deception.

Let’s look at the drive for the new Great Koala National Park (GKNP) in NSW.

The most recent study in the area under question indicates koala numbers are very healthy in the 175,000 hectares being considered – in excess of 12,000 in the last reports supplied to the enquiry into the proposed park. Of course, supporters of the park will say this is precisely the reason to lock it up. However, it begs the question – If koalas are thriving in this environment managed by forestry, why make it a National Park fraught with all the dangers of megafires, unmanaged undergrowth and fuel build ups just waiting to explode? Just look at what is happening in the National Park Estate now with uncontrollable fires.

It seems part of the argument for the new park is to join up the existing adjacent national parks is to provide a safe corridor for koala travel.

There seems to be little thought going into the potential impact of future fires if there is a joined pathway to allow fires to travel – you are actually adding fuel to the fire, making potential megafires, rather than being able to isolate and seperate.  With this approach you are in fact providing a recipe to destroy the existing koala population. You are becoming the “koala killers” as compared to foresters and responsible landholders who value their natural resources, the environment and look after it.

Then what about Forestry and Management?

We should recognize and applaud publicly the world class forestry management practices in Australia that provide sustainable outcomes and can produce a sustainable regenerative industry that works within required regulatory practices for conservation.

To say Forestry Corpn runs the native hardwood Industry at a loss is a very convenient argument. You need to take the whole industry into account from source, right through the supply chain to the end user to determine the ultimate viability, including the communities and jobs in question. You also need to make allowance for the massive resources forestry supply in managing fires, managing the road systems in forestry, of which many lead to and through National Parks.

You then also need to look at what the current public spending is on National parks, and what the spending should be to properly maintain them, as well as do proper studies on providing data on wildlife sustainability and the mortality level in these parks.

Of course, koalas and other fauna will gravitate to well managed clearer areas. Who wants to try and scramble through the uncontrolled lantana and other uncontrolled weeds and undergrowth when there is a better area? People do not want to, let alone wildlife. Why continue to reduce these managed areas when the current National Parks cannot be managed or funded properly? When you look at where the koala and other wildlife were destroyed in past fires you must first look at the destruction in the national park estate and how that has contributed to the whole picture.

Forest harvesting and management is not a cause for loss of habitat or a cause of loss through fires. It is part of the solution.

You can see that co habitation and multiple use actually works, with the prevalence of flora and fauna in the managed forest estate, which makes up the12 % of the forest estate available for harvesting.

Yet the whole mismanagement and misinformation game is being unfairly laid on forestry. This is part of the great con.

While it is recognised that Forestry harvesting practices are not perfect, we must also recognise it is not forestry that is potentially impacting wildlife, quite the reverse. We all know the urban spread in Australia, domestic animals and particularly wildfires impact more so on koala populations.

This then begs the question of what are we achieving in setting aside a well-managed pocket to be a GKNP to potentially destroy it if the current National Park  management practices continue.?

Then what is the solution? 

The public needs to see that a Govt is taking a responsible  approach and not  creating another bottomless money  pit in the name of so called animal welfare, when in fact the main agenda it can be argued, is not really the protection of these animals. In fact  they  are being used to fuel the public support and the  drive to ultimately close all native forests without consideration of the benefits and world class management practices in use.

We are talking about 12% or less of the total Forest Estate, and livelihoods of thousands of people in communities directly and indirectly reliant on a $2.9 billion growing industry in NSW with a growing demand for timber as a renewable sustainable product. Even now we import more than $5 billion of hardwood from overseas because we cannot meet our demand- again adding to housing costs even more.

It is time for the Federal and State Govt to develop some courage and take a nationalistic long-term approach not governed by a political agenda, to stop this ridiculous push and single-minded selfish approach for idealistic unfundable solutions and unrealistic outcomes.

Let’s set aside the ‘them and us’ approach fostered by the extremists and political activists and the term so called ‘Koala Wars’ they so fondly want to use – another form of deception..

Let’s set aside the political agenda and look at the national interest and what sort of society we want in the future- what perpetual legacy should we create?

A future mutual policy and legislation is needed that locks in the forestry estate that is certain and unchangeable, as is National Parks. We need to provide certainty of future maintainable resources that balance our economic needs now and, in the future, with that of conservation and environmental preservation. No stealing of productive land for emotive unsustainable purposes, where the alternative can be mutual co- habitation where needed.

Let’s have a system based on proper research and adequately fund the management of the existing National Parks, where we can (among other things) work on prevention and mitigation measures to reduce the effect of disasters like wildfires. Let’s not continually fund the aftermath of mismanagement and add to the future problem by not addressing it at the core.

Our communities, people and the inhabitants of the environment can then all be winners.

Noel Atkins FCA -Director REEF Research Foundation and Chair Forestry Awareness Program

References:

1. NSW Legislative Council Portfolio Committee No7 Report June 2020-Finding No 2 PP12.
2. CSIRO – National Koala Monitoring Program 15 April 2024 Update
3. Dr. Brad Law-Dept Primary industry-Forest science Research NSW Monitoring & Impairment Program published May 2022 updated and published May 2024.
4. NRC Natural Resources Commission Research Report Updated Dec 2022 Koala Response to Timber Industry.