Applications lodged for former protected koala habitat in Moreton

More than 60 development applications have been lodged after the state government changed koala habitat protections earlier this year. SEE THE SUBURB LIST HERE.

Conservation groups across Moreton region have raised concerns the State Government’s new koala mapping would not protect urban koalas. Photo. supplied.

After the State Government changed its koala habitat mapping in February this year more than 60 applications have been submitted to the Moreton Bay Regional Council to either develop or clear land that was previously protected koala habitat, council data shows.

A Moreton Bay Regional Council spokeswoman said 45 applications were lodged for material change of use (residential and non-residential) and 19 were for operational works including roadworks, vegetation clearing and earthworks .

The spokeswoman said 60 of the 64 properly made applications were located in the superseded Priority Koala Assessable Development Area (PKADA) and four were located in the superseded Koala Assessable Development Area (KADA) all of which were operational works applications in Narangba.

In March, the international conservation foundation WWF Australia condemned the State Government’s new Koala Conservation Strategy saying it allowed a “slate of exemptions in SEQ (South East Queensland) where less than a third of habitat remains according to government modelling”.

WWF Australia’s Protected Areas and Conservation Science Manager Martin Taylor said the strategy needed to “expand .. to protect and where necessary restore critical koala habitat across the entire state”.

The Moreton Bay Rail Project from Petrie to Kippa Ring displaced koalas with conservationists estimating more than 280 koalas died as a result. Photo supplied.

Minister for the Environment Leeanne Enoch told the News in March the new regulations and mapping put in place “in southeast Queensland this year are the strongest koala protections our state has ever seen”.

She said the mapping protected more than 64,000 hectares as koala habitat and that she had met with council about “how to ensure the best protections for koalas in that region”.

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In announcement today Mayor Peter Flannery will call on Council to continue advocacy work for revised Koala mapping and that it “should embark on an Environmental Land Buy Back Program” so that “council can own and manage strategic green corridors across our region”.

Moreton Bay Regional Council Mayor Cr Peter Flannery. Photo. supplied.

“This way our environment will be protected into the future,” Cr Flannery said.

“And I want to be clear with Councillors and the public that when I use the word ‘future’ I don’t mean the next four years.

“I’m not interested in political futures. I’m interested in the future of generations to come ... I can’t imagine a future in Moreton Bay without koalas.”

In March, Koalas of Joyner spokeswoman Sam Wakerley called for a moratorium on clearing koala trees in Koala Priority Areas until the Strategy and Koala Habitat mapping was finalised as “there are development applications awaiting approval that will impact many koalas and hundreds of habitat trees if they are pushed through quickly”.

The suburbs where applications were lodged include:

Kallangur

Ocean view

Rothwell

Samford

Deception Bay

Stanmore

Bongaree

Brendale

Murrumba downs

Banksia beach

Scarborough

Caboolture

Margate

Newport

Albany Creek

Cedar Creek

Burpengary

Everton Hills

North Lakes

Mount Pleasant

Morayfield

Wamuran

Kippa-ring

Strathpine