The Referral Guidelines for the Vulnerable Koala were recently released by the Federal Government. What are referral guidelines?
In short, these guidelines are about making things easier for Government. They reduce Government’s workload by limiting the number
of developments they get asked to assess.
So, while these guidelines are making life easier for Government, are they making life easier for the Koala? As you might have guessed,
they are not.
Here’s an example. If dogs and cars are already killing Koalas near a proposed development site, you might think that the Federal
Government would want to have a look, and possibly intervene to help protect Koalas in an area where they are already getting killed. But no.
Rather perversely, if there are Koalas already getting killed in the local area, it’s a bonus for developers. Under the guidelines, the
Federal Government has stated they are less interested in assessing the development; it appears they see it as a lost cause.
Does that make sense to you? Basically, if any Koalas are already getting killed, Government is thinking: why should we try and protect
the rest?
It's nonsense!