Koala Woman Says

The electoral redistribution in 2024 increased the size of this electorate, which now stretches from the South Australian border to Anglesea, and north to Ararat. It has the highest Koala population of any Victoria electorate. In my Diary in 2013 I highlighted that there were many Blue Gum plantations being grown and harvested which resulted in Koala deaths. This disaster finally gained media prominence in 2020. The Victorian Government hastily released a management plan, but because the Koala is not listed under the EPBC Act in Victoria, the Commonwealth Government remained unconcerned. That’s another reason we need a national Koala Protection Act. Elsewhere in this electorate Koalas are found in Mount Cole State Forest near Ararat, and there appears to be a robust population in the Lower Glenelg National Park. Further east, scattered populations occur across a very fragmented landscape. Koalas occur across the Otway Ranges, with concentrations near Gellibrand, between Cape Otway and Apollo Bay, Kennett River, and Lorne. Besides blue gum plantations, the major threat to koalas is road mortality and bushfire. Koalas have disappeared from the Grampians because of bushfires, with the most recent burning 76,000 hectares in December 2024.  

Will he Act or Axe?