The Cumberland Plain Conservation Plan will not protect koalas or other threatened species, says Cate Faehrmann, Greens MP and planning spokesperson, after the final plan was released today.
“This plan will not save Sydney’s koalas. It will facilitate the very urban expansion that is driving them to extinction,” said Cate Faehrmann
“The plan only protects one of the six koala crossings identified by the Chief Scientists Report. The 120km of exclusion fencing they propose will isolate and fragment koala colonies without appropriate crossings.
“The land set aside for koalas is not enough to ensure their population grows instead of continuing its steady decline.
“This plan will see the clearing of over 1500 hectares of Endangered Ecological Communities, including Cumberland Plain Woodland of which there is only 6400 hectares left.
“The plan claims it will more than offset the impacted vegetation but we have seen how flawed the offsets scheme is. There is no guarantee the Government will be able to offset this level of environmental destruction.
“The NSW Planning Minister is trying to get approval under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act for the entire 11,000 hectares in one go, removing any need for environmental assessment for future developments. The Federal Environment Minister must refuse this or she will be putting the fate of Sydney’s koalas into the developer-friend NSW Planning Minister, Anthony Roberts’, hands,” said Ms Faehrmann.
