Gympie council promises new koala protections in 2022

Gympie council has described allegations about land clearing by the Wide Bay Burnett Environment Council as “misleading, unfair and false” and called on the group to share satellite images showing any “wholesale” clearing in koala habitats in the region.

Gympie Regional Council has denied claims made by the Wide Bay Burnett Environment Council that its lack of protective laws was facilitating the “wholesale” clearing of known koala habitats in the region, especially on the Southside.

Mayor Glen Hartwig said on Tuesday his council was in the process of preparing environmental protections over areas of significance, “which we always planned to do”.

“The State Government is aware of this as we have been working with them, and we are continuing to speak to environmental groups about our plans,” Mr Hartwig said.

“ This isn’t a simple process and it will take time. Would we have liked to do this sooner, absolutely, however this wasn’t an option for us at the time.

“This issue we have is that the original data used to justify the TLPI wasn’t presented in full to the council or the State Government, and ultimately may not stand scrutiny if challenged.

“The environment is a priority for council, but we must ensure any regulations that we endorse and implement are based on fact and, to put it simply, the original TLPI was not.”

Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwig. Gympie Regional Council has denied claims made by the Wide Bay Burnett Environment Council that its lack of protective laws was facilitating the “wholesale” clearing of known koala habitats in the region, especially on the Southside.

Mr Hartwig said that was was not recognised was that “land holders and residents were unintentionally and unreasonably impacted by the TLPI by no fault of their own”.

“Council is fixing this to ensure environmental protections are long-term and unquestionable, which is what we all want,” he said.

“The new environmental protections will be taken to council in the new year – hopefully by the end of the first quarter. We will also release all relevant data and documentation regarding both the implementation and the removal of the TLPIs as the community has every right to this information.

“Regarding the media release from the Wide Bay Burnett Environment Council, it is disappointing that some information is not presented in full. For example, if there are any changes to the planning scheme, we notify residents. To say that we only notified to clear land is misleading and unfair.

“Should the Wide Bay Burnett Environment Council have satellite imagery of extensive clearing, we are very interested in this data as it will assist with our planning, and if the clearing was not allowed under the planning scheme, we would investigate it as a priority.

“We are currently working with the State Government; to say we are continually ignoring the State Government is misleading and false.

“However, we need to ensure our process is correct and the information is based on fact.”