Most rural land exempt from new NSW Coalition rules to protect koala habitat

The NSW Coalition has agreed to new rules to protect koala habitat but will effectively exempt most rural land from more stringent rules administered through the planning process.

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Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Instead, koala habitat on rural land will be covered by yet-to-be-announced protections under land-clearing laws administered by NSW Local Land Services through the primary industries portfolio.

The Nature Conservation Council on Monday said “excising farming and forestry zones from the koala Sepp is a catastrophic setback for the species”.

“These are where most of the koalas live and where most koala habitat destruction is happening right now,” council chief executive Chris Gambian said in a statement. “If you remove protections from these areas you have basically given up on the species and signed its death warrant.”

© Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
NSW Coalition says the new Sepp will stabilise and increase koala populations but critics say it does not protect crucial habitat.

The announcement of the new koala state environmental planning policy (Sepp) 2021 was held up until Monday evening as the Liberal planning minister, Rob Stokes, and the Nationals leader, John Barilaro, worked to agree on the wording of a press release.

The Coalition was almost torn apart in 2020 over the issue. The Nationals threatened to go to the crossbench if the new koala planning policy was not abandoned. They later dropped the threat and the policy was reworked.

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“The new Sepp will help us achieve the NSW koala strategy’s objective of stabilising, then increasing the populations of koalas in the wild,” Stokes said in the statement.

The minister said the new solution was a big step forward for the protection of koalas in NSW. Clearing for developments will still be dealt with under the planning laws.

“The new Sepp will apply to areas where more than 95% of development occurs across NSW – these are the places where koala protection is needed most,” Stokes said.

Core rural zones in rural areas will be decoupled from the Sepp as new codes that protect koala habitat under the Local Land Services Act are developed over the next month, the government said.

“This will vastly reduce red tape by removing the dual consent requirements facing farmers and foresters while immediately introducing enhanced protection for koala habitat in areas where more than 95% of development activity occurs.”

Barilaro said the concerns of landholders in regional NSW had been heard by the NSW government.

“This is a win for regional NSW and balances the interests of farmers and the protection of koalas and their habitat,” the deputy premier said.

“Land zoned for primary production or forestry in regional NSW will not be subject to the new Sepp, which means farmers will not be strangled by red tape. The intention has always been to find a solution to protect both farmers and koalas.”

The key question is whether the new rules will adequately protect land – mainly on the urban fringe and on the mid and north coast – where suburbs are expanding into forested areas.

The proposed laws were unpopular with some Nationals MPs because farmers and developers in their electorates saw rural land close to towns as nest eggs that could be developed in the future.

In metropolitan Sydney, the Blue Mountains and the Central Coast, the Sepp 2021 will apply across all zones, including rural zonings, the government said.

Comprehensive koala plans of management (KPOM) will be finalised to protect koala habitat in Tweed and Byron shires, Stokes, Barilaro and the environment minister, Matt Kean, said in the joint statement.

The other big threat to koala populations is the expansion of broad-acre cropping in north-west NSW. The NSW government relaxed the laws around land clearing in 2017, leading to a massive 60% increase in land clearing.

The new land-clearing laws allow self-assessment under codes. If threatened species are present, then landowners must seek permission prior to clearing. But in practice it has led to a disastrous increase in loss of native vegetation and illegal clearing, according to environmental groups.

According to Monday’s press release, private native forestry (PNF) and local land services (LLS) codes will be revised “to ensure robust protections for koalas in areas of high-value koala habitat and certainty and consistency for primary producers”.

The fate of koalas in north-west NSW will depend on the robustness of these new laws and whether they will continue to allow farmers to self-assess.

Kean said the changes would ensure core koala habitat and colonies across NSW were protected.

“We have ambitious plans to double koala populations in NSW by 2050 and that means we need the right policy tools in place to protect and preserve wildlife and their habitat,” Kean said. “This is a good first step.”

Kean has set a target to double the state’s koala population from a “baseline” of 20,000 to 40,000 despite expert advice urging him not to set such targets.

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But documents obtained under freedom of information laws by Labor revealed an expert asked: “How can you set a target for a population when you have no idea how many there are now?”

Independent MP Justin Field said the new policy was about opening the door to expanded logging on private land without clear rules for protecting koalas.

“It’s one thing to claim this policy reduces red tape, but no government can ignore the fact that over 60% of koalas live on private land and if you want to protect koalas you have to protect trees – this policy doesn’t do that,” he said.

“This grubby deal is the final capitulation by the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, to John Barilaro and the National party’s tantrum over the right to kill koalas in NSW.”

Greens environment spokesperson Cate Faehrmann said: “The dummy spit by the National party over the new koala Sepp was never about farmers. It was always about appeasing the logging industry’s demands to be able to log koala habitat on private land.”

“The key threat facing koalas is the ongoing loss of their habitat, yet this new SEPP won’t stop this loss,” she said. “Two-thirds of koalas live on private land, yet this government has weakened land clearing laws so that almost none of it is protected.”