Citywide koala mapping shows how many the Gold Coast has lost and what habitat remains

The Gold Coast finally knows how many koalas are left in the city – and how much habitat has been lost to development.

East Coomera Koala Population study findings (2017). PHOTO: Supplied

THE Gold Coast finally knows how many koalas are left in the city – and how much habitat has been lost to development.

Councillors at a planning committee meeting today went into a closed session where they discussed a confidential citywide koala mapping and monitoring report.

Councillor Peter Young at a planning committee meeting. Picture: Richard Gosling.

Recommendations made public after the meeting showed these key findings:

• An estimated 5900 koalas inhabit 41,000ha of preferred koala habitat in the city.

• Loss of 44,000 ha of primary koala habitat occurred between European settlement and 2017.

• The East Coomera koala conservation project which relocated koalas creating a new population base at Lower Beechmont and Wongawallen had been a success.

Councillors remarked that “the loss in habitat was greater in the east of the Pacific Motorway than the west of it” and “key suburbs” included Advancetown due to the Hinze Dam.

But further details were not released despite hinterland-based councillors Peter Young and Glenn Tozer strongly arguing for the debate to remain in open session.

Committee chair Cameron Caldwell urged a “cautious approach” because officers had placed the report on “grey” confidential papers.

Cr Peter Young questioned the validity of officers making the item confidential when he had approached CEO Dale Dickson and successfully overturned a decision at a recent meeting to place a similar report on grey papers.

“Ultimately it was re-presented to us by officers and I think possibly the same argument applies here,” he said.

Councillor Glenn Tozer strongly argued for debate to remain in open session. Photo: Jerad Williams.

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Cr Caldwell told the meeting: “So Councillor Young I had the exact same discussion yesterday with the officers and I think they were probably just being cautious. We have six items today of which is the only one in substantially any level of greyness.

“We all try to hold ourselves to be as open and transparent as possible and I think the officers do their best to facilitate that as much as they can.”

Outside the meeting, Cr Tozer told the Bulletin: “My personal view is that just because a council officer says something is confidential, doesn’t make it confidential.

“As elected city leaders should lean towards transparency and ensure that if nothing commercially confidential or prejudicial is contained in a report we should discuss and debate those matters in open session.

“It occurs to me that on some occasions information in reports is temporarily kept confidential for reasons perhaps linked to media strategy, rather than reasons based on sound assessment of legislative confidentiality provisions.”

Councillor Cameron Caldwell — this a good news story. Picture: Richard Gosling.

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Cr Tozer was “confident’ about council moving forward on a program which would see more vegetation cover across the hinterland appealing to koalas, growing their habitat options.

Cr Caldwell said the council was working hard to preserve the koala habitat and “some good news” from the report was the East Coomera translocation program had been successful.

He said planning committee had not made any recommendations regarding future funding which would be a decision of the special budget committee and full council.

“The good news is in due course the vast majority of that material will be available publicly, it is certainly something that we want to make sure is shared,” he added.