{"id":147516,"date":"2025-09-16T13:50:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T13:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/147516\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T13:50:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T13:50:11","slug":"koala-habitat-to-be-removed-under-proposed-dreamworld-expansion-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/147516\/","title":{"rendered":"Koala habitat to be removed under proposed Dreamworld expansion plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

The development application, initially lodged in 2023, encompasses a tourism centre, residential homes, and a resort precinct across a 30-hectare site.<\/p>\n

Bleijie announced earlier this month that the government was considering fast-tracking the project by using its “call-in powers”, at the request of Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate.<\/p>\n

\"QueenslandQueensland deputy premier and planning minister Jarrod Bleijie. (Nine)<\/p>\n

It also notes the site is “heavily vegetated with native vegetation and koala habitat trees”.<\/p>\n

“The proposal… represents a major tourism and economic opportunity\ufeff, however there are significant environmental matters related to the proposal that require careful consideration,” Bleijie wrote.<\/p>\n

“In particular, the proposal includes clearing of native vegetation across the site within areas mapped for environmental significance, including regulated native vegetation and koala habitat.”<\/p>\n

\ufeffAn ecological report lodged with Gold Coast City Council as part of the development application reveals plans to remove 42,285 square metres of koala habitat, home to 1072 koala habitat trees.<\/p>\n

“The proposed vegetation clearing on the subject site will require clearing of mapped koala habitat areas,” the report reads.<\/p>\n

“However, this clearing has been drastically minimised to only seek the removal of necessary trees from within the mapped area.”<\/p>\n

\"\"\/The theme park precinct would be expanded into a tourism hub with a resort precinct and residential homes across a 30-hectare site. (Dreamworld)<\/p>\n

A koala management plan also lodged as part of the development application makes clear a result of the development is the “threat of potential impact and risk to koala that may arise or be temporarily intensified”.<\/p>\n

“The applicant is highly committed \ufeffto ensuring these potential threats and risks have minimal impacts on any koala individuals that may be present within the site,” it states.<\/p>\n

It notes that no koalas can legally be removed from the site by human intervention and must be allowed to vacate the site without interference.<\/p>\n

Koala spotters would be on site during the\ufeff clearing process and any trees found to contain a koala would not be cleared, as well as any that overlap, until the animal had moved on.<\/p>\n

Council will consider the call-in \ufeffnotice at the next full council meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The development application, initially lodged in 2023, encompasses a tourism centre, residential homes, and a resort precinct across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-147516","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}