Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Griffith for moving this motion. I've never heard so much rubbish from the other side before. This environment minister has been invited to my electorate many times to see our wonderful koala population. It's been studied and studied and studied, and I make mention of the work of Professor Robert Close from the University of Western Sydney who's done some wonderful population work, tracking our koalas, checking their health. We have one of the only chlamydia-free koala populations in urban New South Wales.

As we speak, koala habitat is being bulldozed. I've invited the federal environment minister many times to my electorate to see what's happening. She's refused every time. She is the environment minister like Nero: fiddling while Rome burns. She's watching the destruction of our iconic Australian wildlife, the koala in particular, and doing nothing about it. This government is doing nothing about it, allowing developers to reap hundreds of millions of dollars in development payments for their land while destroying our iconic koala population.

Habitat loss is amongst the most significant threats to our koalas, and the constituents in my electorate are crying out for action on the dire land clearing that's been allowed to occur under the watch of this government. It is an absolute tragedy that's evolving before our eyes. This government and this Clayton's environment minister are doing absolutely nothing about it. It is an evolving tragedy. On numerous occasions I've invited the federal Minister for the Environment to come and see our koala populations. More recently I invited the state environment minister, Matt Kean, to come and see our koala population. He came and was amazed by what we have in Macarthur. It should be a national park. As we watch, bulldozers are clearing koala habitats. It's a shame and it's a shame on this government that they're doing nothing about it.

Not to my surprise, this environment minister has refused to act and to even visit our electorate. The government is currently six years overdue in making a threatened species recovery plan for the koala. Yet this government is kicking the can down the road, saying they're going to have a census. I can show you: our koalas have had multiple census over many years by Professor Robert Close. All the information's here: the koalas have been tracked, named, checked for health; their breeding's been checked; and the genetics are all known. This is what's happening in my electorate, yet this environment minister, this government, just wants to kick the can down the road. It is just shameful that they would do this.

We've seen on so many occasions our really unique koala habitat destroyed for development. We're really frightened that the remaining koala habitat in my electorate could be the subject of bushfires this coming bushfire season, and nothing has been done to protect it. Labor has long called on the federal government to immediately work with the states and with each electorate, on an electorate-by-electorate basis, to save our koalas. We have schools in my electorate where the students are distracted by watching the koalas through the windows of their classroom; yet the government want to see that destroyed. When I say 'want to see that destroyed', it is quite clear what their policy is doing. They're kicking the can down the road so their developer mates can continue with development and habitat destruction until there is nothing left. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Since I have come into this parliament, I have written to every environment minister requesting urgent action, but nothing has happened. Yet we hear again from this minister, 'We'll just kick the can down the road and we'll ignore them.' Labor has, of course, called for comprehensive ecological audits. In my electorate of Macarthur, in south-western Sydney, we know the koalas—we know their names, we know their habits, we know their breeding patterns and we know how they track. They go between the Georges River and Nepean River. We know what is happening and we are watching their habitat being destroyed as we speak. It is a huge shame.

I commend this motion to the parliament and I call on the government to act. If they don't act soon, there will be nothing to act for. The only koalas left will be, as the previous member said, chocolate koalas that you can buy in a confectionary shop, and you won't be able to see them in the wild. This is an absolute tragedy that is evolving in front of our eyes, but this government does nothing.

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