The Greens have announced they’ll move for a moratorium on koala habitat clearing to save the national treasure from extinction.
The legislative move would block decisions by Environment Minister Ley like the approval yesterday of a quarry at Pt Stephens which will destroy 52ha of critical habitat for the endangered species.
Greens Environment Spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said:
“Koalas are a national treasure and yet we have an Environment Minister not just failing to save them but signing their death warrant.
“Unless habitat clearing is stopped, koalas will soon be extinct.
“The Greens will move in the Parliament for a moratorium on habitat clearing to save the koala from extinction.
“Off the back of the worst bushfires in history which killed a third of NSW’s koala population and destroyed millions of hectares of habitat across the country, no approvals for developments on koala land should be given.
“The Environment Minister has one job and killing koalas isn’t it. If she won’t protect them then the Parliament must, because right now our environment laws are failing.
“Australia is a world leader in extinction and without urgent action we’ll have killed off the koala too and that will be an international shame.
“Australians don’t want the only koalas we have left to be in zoos.”
