It was a bit of a rocky road getting the Draft on display, as five of the eleven Councillors voted against it! If just one of the Councillors who agreed to put the Draft on public display changes his mind when the CKPoM comes back to Council to approve, the Plan could be simply received and noted, meaning it would be shelved and not implemented. That’s what happened with the last Draft CKPoM. Almost as bad is that the CKPoM might be watered down by Councillors to the point where it’s ineffective.
For the sake of our koalas’ future, we can’t let either of those things happen this time!
You can help ensure the Draft Plan is adopted by Council by doing two things:
1. 1. Make a brief submission NOW to Council stating your support for the CKPoM, either by sending an email to council@lismore.nsw.gov.au or by post to PO Box 23A, Lismore 2480. Address your submission to the General Manager.
Submissions may be written by anyone and from anywhere. All submissions received must be taken into consideration. If you’re a Lismore resident, make that clear, and if you live in the area covered by the CKPoM, either urban Lismore or the rural area, also make that clear. If there is more than one of you living at the same address, write separate submissions.
2. 2. Please tell your contacts who you know care about koalas urging them to make a submission themselves.
If you wish to get more background information to assist in preparing a submission, please email or phone:
While it is extremely important that your submission clearly supports the Draft Plan, if you feel there are omissions or aspects that could be clarified/strengthened, then include them as well.
You might congratulate the Council on caring enough about our koalas to undertake management of their long-term survival in the wild and remind Councillors that the current extent of Koala’s occurrence (EoO) across the local government area (LGA) (i.e.146,500ha) begs for extension of a CKPoM LGA-wide in due course (the area covered by the Draft Plan is a mere 20,633ha) and that you would support this.
Finally, it might also help you to be aware that during 2011 (1 January to 14 December), 154 koalas were received by Friends of the Koala from across the Lismore LGA. Despite excellent veterinary assistance the 77% loss rate, 119 koalas, is very high. Disease was the biggest killer: 71 koalas (60%), followed by car hit: 18 koalas (15%) and dog attack: 9 koalas (7%). We don’t know what percentage of Lismore’s koala population comes into care but clearly a framework for pro-active, responsible management is long overdue.
PLEASE ACT NOW – OUR KOALAS DESERVE THE VERY BEST WE CAN DO!
