Kimberley Kitching (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Labor opposes this motion, because it's not helpful for the Senate to set itself up as the arbiter of individual projects, motion by motion, under the national environmental law. We need a strong national policy framework to protect koalas, and that's why Labor moved a motion in the House calling for the Morrison government to:

… prevent further habitat loss through yet-to-commence development in areas in which the koala is listed as vulnerable, pending the completion of the formal assessment for up listing, the making of a Threatened Species Recovery Plan, and the making of a new National Koala Conservation Strategy.

The Morrison government has failed to deliver any meaningful protections for our national icons, like the koala, and it's a disgrace.