Senate debates
Thursday, 27 November 2025
Bills
Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025, National Environmental Protection Agency Bill 2025, Environment Information Australia Bill 2025, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Customs Charges Imposition) Bill 2025, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Excise Charges Imposition) Bill 2025, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (General Charges Imposition) Bill 2025, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Restoration Charge Imposition) Bill 2025; In Committee
5:36 pm
Ross Cadell (NSW, National Party, Shadow Minister for Water) Share this | Hansard source
The specific perverse outcomes I want to get to are like the case of Pilliga. Pilliga had a population of, I think, 15,000 koalas. It had river gums and ironbarks, and it also had logging in it, with cypress. It was locked up, the fuel load increased, and there were fires in 2017-18. The recovery saw the non-native species overtake the gums and the koala habitat. The population is now estimated to be somewhere in the low hundreds—50 to 200. Under these EPBC acts, if they have to go through approvals, is the consequence of not acting taken into account for back burns for management for thinning in these cases?
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