Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

One of the things that the Morrison government did early on, after the 2019-20 bushfires, was to talk to an independent panel of experts about the needs of koalas. The Minister for the Environment requested at that time that the Threatened Species Scientific Committee undertake an assessment of the status of the species. Now that the Threatened Species Scientific Committee have undertaken their assessment of the species, the minister is currently considering their final advice in line with the statutory time frames.

In the meantime, there are projects to benefit the koala that are already well underway. The landmark National Koala Monitoring Program, which is filling key data gaps, will produce a robust estimate of the national koala population and monitor the health and condition of koalas. The habitat restoration and threat mitigation programs—which I spoke of earlier—in key koala hotspots in New South Wales and Queensland focus on both bushfire-affected and non-bushfire-affected areas and include a partnership with the World Wildlife Fund that is delivering habitat restoration projects in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales and in South-East Queensland. (Time expired)