June2011_KOALA UPDATE
Vanda Grabowski, Secretary/Education Officer of Koala Action Pine Rivers Inc. and Megan Aitken, President of Moreton Bay Koala Rescue were able to attend the second public hearing into the status health and sustainability of Australia’s koala population at Parliament House in Canberra on Thursday 19 May 2011, thanks to the generosity of their volunteer not for profit groups.
Representatives of the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre, Chris Allen, the Conservation Council ACT Region and Dr Alistair Melzer, Koala Research Centre of Central Queensland succinctly articulated the desperate plight of the koala in Queensland, New South Wales and Canberra.
Probing questions by Senators Brown, Cameron and Fisher to representatives from the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management Queensland (DERM), as well as the Department of Local Government and Planning left gallery attendees feeling that these bodies were not doing enough to help koalas survive.
Representatives from the Australian Forest Products Association (formerly National Association of Forest Industries) did their very best to show that their industry was concerned about the long term survival of koalas and doing all that the law required of them to assist koalas in state forests. They stressed that their tree clearing activities actually enhanced koala habitat.
Vanda Grabowski was called upon to be an expert witness at the Public hearing held in Brisbane on Tuesday 3 May 2011. Members of Koala Action Pine Rivers Inc., Moreton Bay Koala Rescue and the Koala Action Group in Redlands filled the Gallery.
Research Scientist, Ms Jo Loader, and Dr Jon Hanger (former Senior Veterinarian at the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital) pointed out the serious impacts of chlamydial disease and KorV (a koala retrovirus) on the dwindling number of koalas left in Queensland and New South Wales. Their concerns were supported by representatives of the Koala Research Network and Cr Melva Hobson, Mayor of Redland City Council.
Representatives from the Sunshine Coast Regional Council and Ms Carolyn Beaton, Koala Diaries detailed the decline of koalas in their region.
There were no representatives from Moreton Bay Regional Council (MBRC) nor was there a submission provided to the committee by Councillors, the Mayor or staff from MBRC.
Evidence provided at the Brisbane hearing on Tuesday clearly showed that the koala was in serious decline in Redlands, the Sunshine Coast and the Moreton Bay Region as a consequence of ongoing and escalating clearing and fragmentation of koala habitat. The many Koala Management Plans written by local and state government bodies over many years to protect koalas had clearly failed to halt the increasing impacts of disease, motor vehicle strikes and domestic animal attack on the koala population.
Vanda Grabowski
Secretary and Education Officer
Probing questions by Senators Brown, Cameron and Fisher to representatives from the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management Queensland (DERM), as well as the Department of Local Government and Planning left gallery attendees feeling that these bodies were not doing enough to help koalas survive.
Representatives from the Australian Forest Products Association (formerly National Association of Forest Industries) did their very best to show that their industry was concerned about the long term survival of koalas and doing all that the law required of them to assist koalas in state forests. They stressed that their tree clearing activities actually enhanced koala habitat.
Vanda Grabowski was called upon to be an expert witness at the Public hearing held in Brisbane on Tuesday 3 May 2011. Members of Koala Action Pine Rivers Inc., Moreton Bay Koala Rescue and the Koala Action Group in Redlands filled the Gallery.
Research Scientist, Ms Jo Loader, and Dr Jon Hanger (former Senior Veterinarian at the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital) pointed out the serious impacts of chlamydial disease and KorV (a koala retrovirus) on the dwindling number of koalas left in Queensland and New South Wales. Their concerns were supported by representatives of the Koala Research Network and Cr Melva Hobson, Mayor of Redland City Council.
Representatives from the Sunshine Coast Regional Council and Ms Carolyn Beaton, Koala Diaries detailed the decline of koalas in their region.
There were no representatives from Moreton Bay Regional Council (MBRC) nor was there a submission provided to the committee by Councillors, the Mayor or staff from MBRC.
Evidence provided at the Brisbane hearing on Tuesday clearly showed that the koala was in serious decline in Redlands, the Sunshine Coast and the Moreton Bay Region as a consequence of ongoing and escalating clearing and fragmentation of koala habitat. The many Koala Management Plans written by local and state government bodies over many years to protect koalas had clearly failed to halt the increasing impacts of disease, motor vehicle strikes and domestic animal attack on the koala population.
Vanda Grabowski
Secretary and Education Officer
Koala Action Pine Rivers Inc.
