The Hon Kevin Rudd MP

Prime Minister of Australia

PO Box 6022

House of Representatives

Parliament House

CANBERRA  ACT  2600

email: www.gov.au

Dear Prime Minister

Re: Nomination of the Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) for ‘vulnerable to extinction’ listing under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

Friends of the Koala is a voluntary wildlife rehabilitation group of some 370 members which has been licensed by the NSW Department of Environment Climate Change and Water for 20 years to rescue, rehabilitate and release koalas in the local government areas of Ballina, Byron, Kyogle, Lismore, Richmond Valley and Tweed.

Friends of the Koala engages in a range of activities which aim to protect and restore koala habitat in the Northern Rivers and to educate the community about the fragile plight of the Region’s remaining koala populations. Our mission is conserving koalas, particularly in the Northern Rivers Region of New South Wales, in recognition of the contribution the species makes to Australia’s biodiversity.

We write to thank your government picking up the previous government’s promise to direct the Threatened Species Scientific Committee to review the conservation status of the Koala in the light of the retrovirus associated with the Koala (KoRV). We understand the Committee is to meet on 10 November to deliver its findings.

In August of this year we wrote to you commending your comments on the koala named Sam and pointing out the impact that disease in particular is having on the koala populations of the Northern Rivers (see attachment).

Prime Minister, we can only tell you what we are seeing and that is declining koala health, even in areas of quality habitat. Our experience, together with scientific evidence such as the Queensland Government’s recently released Decline of the Koala Coast Koala Population: Population Status 2008 is demonstrating that koalas up and down the eastern seaboard are in peril.

We understand the complexities inherent in koala conservation across the nation. Solutions arrived at in the past have contributed to some of the problems being experienced today, however we sincerely believe that across its natural range and in particular that part east of the Great Divide, the Koala’s survival is extremely precarious.

We expect the Threatened Species Scientific Committee’s consideration of the available evidence including current data, some of which will have been provided by koala rehabilitation groups such as Friends of the Koala, as well as application of the precautionary principle in the absence of standardized national koala monitoring data, will result in the species’ listing.

The sheer extent of habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation, ongoing impacts from expanding urban development, evidence of alarming koala population declines in South East Queensland, grave concerns about the impacts of koala retrovirus (KoRV) and associated disease including indications of increased severity of chlamydial disease in koala populations in South East Queensland and northern New South Wales clearly call out for immediate and decisive action.

On the Northern Rivers of New South Wales the Koala is already listed as ‘vulnerable to extinction under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 and the State Government released an approved recovery plan at the end of 2008. State Planning Policy 44 – Koala Habitat Protection (SEPP 44) has been in place since 1995, yet only two local government authorities in New South Wales have comprehensive koala plans of management in place.

In our experience the measures initiated by the state government are insufficient. Extinction is rapidly approaching for many of our coastal koala populations. We urge your government to intervene by extending Australia’s threatened species legislation to include the Koala in the first instance. Introducing and enforcing more effective legislation and providing the necessary support to local governments for conserving koala populations for future generations will need to quickly follow for any chance of success.

Yours sincerely

Lorraine Vass

President

6 November 2009

cc The Hon Peter Garrett, MP Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts