{"id":366537,"date":"2025-12-23T11:13:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T11:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/366537\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T11:13:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T11:13:10","slug":"koala-protection-in-south-east-queensland-to-be-shaped-by-new-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/366537\/","title":{"rendered":"Koala protection in south-east Queensland to be shaped by new strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queenslanders have been invited to have their say on how best to protect the koala population in the state’s south-east.<\/p>\n

The Crisafulli government announced on Tuesday it would establish a Koala Ministerial Advisory Council as part of a new strategy to protect the iconic species.<\/p>\n

Advocates have previously warned that south-east Queensland’s koala population could soon become extinct<\/a> with fewer than 16,000 left in the wild in the region.<\/p>\n

The advisory council will bring together voices from industry, science, local government, property and conservation and will be chaired by Queensland’s environment minister Andrew Powell.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Environment Minister Andrew Powell will chair a new council to advise on koala strategy and its rollout. (ABC News: Cameron Lang)<\/p>\n

A discussion paper will be open until March 15 giving members of the public the opportunity to have their say on the koala strategy.<\/p>\n

Mr Powell said the government wants to leave “no stone unturned” in developing solutions to protect the koala population.<\/p>\n

“We want to look at habitat protection, habitat restoration, monitoring, mapping [and] the health of koalas,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Koalas are part of who we are as Queenslanders, and we’re determined to protect them for generations to come.”\"A<\/p>\n

This orphaned female koala, ‘Piglet’, was raised and then released by Endeavour Veterinary Ecology. (ABC News: Cameron Lang)<\/p>\n

An ‘early Christmas present’ for koalas<\/p>\n

The announcement includes a $950,000 funding boost for Gold Coast-based service Endeavour Veterinary Ecology (EVE).<\/p>\n

CEO Michael Hornby said the announcement was an “early Christmas present” for the koalas of the northern Gold Coast.<\/p>\n

The organisation’s work includes chlamydia treatment and monitoring rehabilitated and released koalas.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Endeavour Veterinary Ecology’s Michael Hornby said there is an opportunity to reverse the decline of the koala population in the south-east. (ABC News: Cameron Lang)<\/p>\n

Mr Hornby said the organisation had successfully treated a local population of more than 120 koalas in Pimpama for chlamydia.<\/p>\n

He said the entire population had been infected with the disease.<\/p>\n

“It’s highly likely that this site otherwise could have become a koala graveyard,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Now it is arguably Australia’s healthiest koala population, and that’s something to be proud of.”<\/p>\n

The population has also taken part in a recent chlamydia vaccine trial<\/a> developed by researchers at the University of the Sunshine Coast.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

EVE researchers monitor koalas for chlamydia and other diseases. (ABC Radio Brisbane: Kenji Sato)<\/p>\n

“We know that every dollar being invested today in this kind of work will probably give us ten years’ worth of returns,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s more than a one-site operation,” Mr Hornby said. “It’s a change in the wind.”<\/p>\n

Mr Powell said he wants to see the success of EVE’s program replicated.<\/p>\n

“We want to find other projects around south-east Queensland that produce just as good, if not better, results.”<\/p>\n

The Koala Ministerial Advisory Council will hold its first meeting in early 2026.<\/p>\n

Mr Powell said a Koala Strategy would be delivered by the middle of next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queenslanders have been invited to have their say on how best to protect the koala population in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[91180,1313,64,63,651,75,20748,44946,50029,6018,94,701,128,27342,14267,338],"class_list":["post-366537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-andrew-powell","tag-animals","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brisbane","tag-environment","tag-extinction","tag-koalas","tag-minister","tag-protection","tag-qld","tag-queensland","tag-science","tag-south-east","tag-strategy","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366537","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=366537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}