NSW, Queensland and ACT koalas listed as endangered

Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley announced on Friday that the conservation status of the koala will be upgraded from vulnerable to endangered in line with a recommendation by the government advisory body, the Threatened Species Scientific Committee.

"The impact of prolonged drought, followed by the Black Summer bushfires, and the cumulative impacts of disease, urbanisation and habitat loss over the past twenty years have led to the advice," Ms Ley said.

The move to list koalas as endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 will provide more protection for the species that has declined by between 33 and 61 per cent in NSW since 2001.

A state parliamentary inquiry in 2020 warned that the marsupial would likely become extinct before the middle of the century without urgent intervention. At least 6400 koalas were wiped out by the 2019/20 summer bushfires alone.

The federal government believes the endangered listing will highlight and help address threats to koala populations.

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It wants Queensland, NSW and Victoria to sign up to a national recovery plan worth $50 million over four years.

"We are taking unprecedented action to protect the koala, working with scientists, medical researchers, veterinarians, communities, states, local governments and Traditional Owners," Ms Ley said.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare said the endangered listing was a "dark day for our nation".

"This decision is a double-edged sword. We should never have allowed things to get to the point where we are at risk of losing a national icon," IFAW Wildlife campaign manager Josey Sharrad said.

"If we can't protect an iconic species endemic to Australia, what chance do lesser-known but no less important species have?"

WWF-Australia conservation scientist Dr Stuart Blanch said the endangered listing must be a turning point for koalas and called on federal and state governments to commit to doubling koala numbers on the east coast by 2050.

"Koalas have gone from no-listing to vulnerable to endangered within a decade. That is a shockingly fast decline. Today's decision is welcome, but it won't stop koalas from sliding towards extinction unless it's accompanied by stronger laws and landholder incentives to protect their forest homes," said Dr Blanch.

The announcement comes days after fresh analysis by the Australian Conservation Foundation found the amount of koala habitat approved for clearing had increased every year since 2012, when east coast koalas were first listed as vulnerable.

The federal government has rubber-stamped the loss of more than 25,000 hectares of habitat, the ACF found - equivalent to 526,000 average-sized blocks of residential land, or about 10,400 Sydney Cricket Grounds.

In Port Stephens in 2020, Ms Ley approved the controversial expansion of Hanson's Brandy Hill rock quarry, green lighting the clearing of 52 hectares of land that opponents said is prime koala habitat.

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