The new Federal Environment Minister is under pressure to deliver some form of protection for the koala.
Former minister Peter Garrett had indicated the koala may be listed as “conservation dependent” and was expected to confirm that by the end of this month.
Now Deborah Tabart from the Australian Koala Foundation has urged newly-appointed Environment Minister Tony Burke to take the matter seriously.
She says there are as few as 43,000 koalas left, and the species must be listed as “vulnerable”.
“Koalas are just going off the planet every day and in fact this morning I saw the most moving photos of koalas that had been killed,” she said.
“I just wish that our politicians would spend a day out in the bush seeing what’s happening to our wildlife.”
Ms Tabart says there is no time to waste.
“I must confess I am very anxious to hear whether the Labor Government is going to meet that deadline and I would really encourage them to do so,” she said.
The koala currently has no protection under national laws.
