Environmental groups have called for an urgent rescue plan from land clearing, urban sprawl and roadkills, for the endangered Koala colonies of the Sydney Basin, at a meeting with Judith Hannan MP, President of the Parliamentary Friends of the Koalas.

Our Protection Plan, signed by over 20 national, state, and local green NGOs and accompanied by two petitions, Save the Vital Mallaty Creek Koala Corridor and Save the Koalas of Sydney, with over 22,000 signatures urges the Premier and Ministers for Environment and Planning to apply protective corridors across the Sydney Basin; adopt a robust definition of koala habitat so all councils can quickly proceed with Comprehensive Koala Plans of Management; build five effective Appin Road crossings including protecting and restoring Mallaty Creek; end code-based land clearing; and scrap the unscientific Rural Boundary Clearing Code.

“Developer interests are being put ahead of the interests of the Sydney Basin Koala colonies. Secure koala protections must be put in place before any development,” said our Director, Jeff Angel. "But as the government fast tracks development, it slows Koala protections. The inevitable result of this will be cataclysmic for the endangered Koala."

Stephanie Carrick, Project Manager of the Sydney Basin Koala Network of 22 groups said: “Despite the change in government nearly two years ago, Koala deaths in the Sydney Basin are now worse due to a loss of habitat from development approved under Chris Minns’ watch. Koala deaths on Appin Road are now twice what they were in 2022 since the Lendlease Gilead's development started, a scenario that is worsening with massive Walker approvals clearing critical habitat in Appin.” 

Saul Deane for Save Sydney’s Koalas said: ‘While the government has promised a National Park along the Georges River, it still has not ensured wide habitat linking corridors, nor a legally enforceable plan for the Sydney Basin.” 

"It’s inexplicable that the Department of Planning wants to fence out Koalas from the Mallaty Creek Koala corridor, despite this going directly against the original Chief Scientist’s recommendation and Campbelltown's own Koala Plan of Management. The Mallaty Creek Koala corridor must be immediately reinstated with an underpass into the Georges River National Park," shares Stephanie of SBKN. 

Note: The Sydney Basin Bioregion is a diverse landscape stretching from Nowra, north to Port Stephens and west almost as far as Mudgee, with established colonies at risk of development in Campbelltown, Wollondilly, Sutherland Shire, Liverpool, the Hawkesbury, the Southern Highlands, Cessnock, Lake Macquarie, and Port Stephens with many sightings in surrounding LGAs.