Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Exactly a week ago in the Senate, I gave a speech about the threatened species inquiry—our extinction crisis inquiry—that I'm chairing under the environment committee. We are facing an extinction crisis in Australia; there are 448 animals that are threatened or endangered. In my 10 minute speech, I decided I'd attempt to name them all—all 448. I only got to 167. I only got through the species that are critically endangered and endangered. I didn't even finished the endangered species list and didn't even get to the vulnerable ones. I didn't even get to mention the koala.

We are facing an extinction crisis and the koala is an absolute symbol of what is wrong—448 Australian animals, yet we cannot even act to save one of them that is so iconic and such a symbol of Australia. It is sliding—in fact, it is heading rapidly—towards extinction. I'm pleased that Senator Molan noted how significant koalas are, and I believe him in his sincerity that he wants to see koalas protected. But, in order to do that, we've got to take real action, and the Commonwealth is absolutely abrogating its responsibility to be taking real action.

I want to, first of all, outline an example of the level of decline of koalas in New South Wales. As part of our inquiry into the extinction crisis, we've received over 12,000 contributions from the public, including hundreds of submissions from very learned experts on what the issues are and why these animals, our precious wildlife, are hurtling towards extinction. In their submission, the National Parks Association of NSW talked about the issues a whole range of animals, particularly koalas, were facing and noted that the koalas in southern New South Wales are a perfect example of what's been going on with our animals in crisis. They used the example of the Eden area, which was known in the late 19th century to have had a koala population large enough to support a pelt export trade.

But, now, following the clearing of the Bega Valley for agriculture, the clear-felling for woodchipping as well as the impacts of climate change, the koala population is on the verge of extinction. It is estimated that between 30 and 60 animals remain between the Bega and Bermagui rivers. They note that, in ecological terms, this decline is precipitously rapid. We have gone from an animal population in New South Wales and Queensland that was abundant to one which is now expected, under current activities, will be extinct by 2050. The population of koalas in New South Wales has shrunk by a quarter in the last 20 years. This is a crisis.

It's particularly tragic that this is ongoing before our very eyes when we know what's causing it and we know what we need to do to protect koalas as well as a huge range of other animals. We have to protect their habitat. That means, in particular for koalas, protecting them the clearing of land for land development, for mining and for agribusiness and protecting their habitat from logging. All these things are occurring in koala habitat—and not because the Australian community want those activities to happen. We have people all around the country who are passionate about protecting koalas. This destruction of their habitat is not in the interests of the Australian community, let alone in the interests of the koalas. It's all happening in the interests of big business. They are the ones who are driving the policy. They are the ones who are driving the inaction of this government. And all the threats to the koala populations are going to be exacerbated by climate change, which will make the forests that koalas live in hotter, drier and more susceptible to fire. These are the threats that koalas are facing. Basically, greedy, wildlife destroying companies are calling the shots, and they are aided and abetted by state and federal governments.

This matters. Whether we are talking about koalas, crustaceans in creeks, insects or reptiles, we cannot continue to survive without a healthy environment. Our very survival depends upon having a healthy environment. As the saying goes, there are no jobs on a dead planet. We can have economic development and prosperity and protect the environment. We can have healthy koala populations and economic wellbeing, certainly here in Australia. But we know what we need to do. It is very simple: we need to stop destroying koala habitat. That means that we need to stand up against big business and say, 'No, you will not continue to log that forest'; 'No, you are not going to be permitted to clear that area of land'; and 'No, that mining operation cannot go ahead there because it is going to be putting these animals under threat'. We need to say enough is enough.

That's what Australians want to see. They want to see koalas protected. Australians want to see the survival of these animals that we love and have known as a symbol of Australia so that our children and our grandchildren will be able to love and enjoy those animals as well, along with all the rest of our precious wildlife. It's just not enough to have those cute photo-ops for Threatened Species Day, and it's not enough, as is proposed in the New South Wales supposed 'koala strategy', to be setting aside wildlife parks into which koalas will get translocated as their habitat gets destroyed elsewhere. That is not going to protect the koalas.

My colleague Senator Faruqi has talked about some of the threats from land clearing and agriculture. I want to focus on logging and the impacts of logging on koala habitat. Again, we know what needs to happen: we need to stop logging. We need to scrap our failed logging laws, which are continuing the destruction of habitat. The National Parks Association, again, in their submission to our inquiry, have said that, under the proposed integrated forestry operations approvals, under the New South Wales proposed regulations, there will be a 140,000-hectare intensive harvesting zone between Taree and Grafton, which covers 43 per cent—almost half—of the mapped high-quality koala habitat in state forests, and logging in this area will move up to 100 per cent of the trees and see just five to 10 trees of minimum 20-centimetre diameter left. This is not going to be compatible with koala conservation. We know that. We know that koalas need mature-forest growth stages. We know what happens when you remove the trees. It's not rocket science—you remove the trees, the koalas can't live there. We need to stop logging in our native forests. We need to be shifting all of the wood production in Australia to plantations.

It was very interesting to hear Senator Molan talk about plantations in Tumbarumba—absolutely, I almost called out; hear, hear! Eighty-seven per cent of the wood that is now coming from Australia is coming from plantations. We need to increase that to 100 per cent. We haven't got another 10 years left before we do that. We need to start doing that now. I was pleased with the release of the government's National Forest Industries Plan last week. It was instructive that it recognises that the future for the wood production industry is in plantations. There is scarcely a mention of native forest logging in this strategy, and that's because it's on its way out and we don't need the wood that we are getting from native forests. Not only do we not need the wood from native forests, but continuing to log native forests is having these incredible impacts on our precious wildlife.

In conclusion, we've got that good news. We know what we need to do to protect koalas, to increase their populations, and that is to the stop the destruction of their habitat. I really want to thank people all around the country who are taking action, planting trees and advocating and who have made submissions to our Senate inquiry. I know that the people of Australia, as well the koalas, are behind you and that we can protect koalas if we decide to act and do so.