All the koala news from across the country. Check out all the various events, campaigns and other news relating to koalas from Victoria to Queensland.
Credit: News from Koala News & Science, by Janine Duffy, Koala Clancy Foundation & Cheryl Egan, Wild Koala Day
International Court advises that Australia could be liable for climate harm 24 July
The landmark ruling by the International Court of Justice has clarified that countries can’t dodge the harm caused by fossil fuels they export. Hopefully this will slow Australia's approvals of coal and gas mines, and put existing fossil fuel mines on notice.
https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/worlds-highest-courts-landmark-decision-carries-major-implications-for-australias-climate-obligations/
https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/icj-ruling-confirms-states-have-a-legal-duty-to-act-on-climate-australia-now-faces-a-clear-choice/
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jul/24/australia-warned-it-could-face-legal-action-over-fossil-fuels-after-icj-landmark-climate-ruling
Mt Pleasant mine, Muswellbrook blocked NSW 24 July
The MACH Mt Pleasant coal mine expansion approval has been overturned on grounds of climate harm.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jul/24/significant-legal-breakthrough-as-nsw-court-blocks-coal-mine-expansion-over-emissions#
Big announcement #3 about the same, shrinking NP: Warranmadhaa/Georges River Koala National Park, NSW 30 July 2025
The transfer of 962ha of existing state-owned bushland (currently class 1.3 Conservation & Natural Environments: Other Minimal Use, zoned for public recreation) to National Park is a good thing for future koalas, but it's not new, it's not enough, and it's not what was promised. This latest PR is the third over 3 years over which the national park has shrunk in size, urgency and budget.
Timeline of press releases and promises:
30 July 2025: New national park to protect Sydney’s largest koala populationhttps://www.nsw.gov.au/ministerial-releases/new-national-park-to-protect-sydneys-largest-koala-population
The PR states: “Koalas require large, connected areas of habitat so they can eat, move and breed.”
They sure do. Pity this NP is not any of those things.
The Sydney Basin Koala Network notes that much of the land envisaged for the complete national park is aspirational (private land on the open market), and the critical Mallaty Creek Corridor is still not protected.
https://www.tec.org.au/petition_save_mallaty_creek_koala_corridor
September 2023 : NSW government to set up new national park as it looks to balance koala protections with urban sprawl https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-22/enironment-minister-confirms-koala-national-park/102888598
“The state government will spend $80 million on koala protections, including $43 million from the latest budget*, to establish the Georges River Koala National Park. The national park, which Labor committed to before the state elections, will cover 1,830 hectares along the Georges River, including 1,000 hectares of public land."
*(That would have been from the 2022-2023, or 2023-2024 Budget. It appears they didn’t spend that $43million as promised, but plan to spend it now?)
March 2023: NSW Labor pledges to protect koala population with new national park in Sydney’s south-west. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/04/nsw-labor-pledges-to-protect-koala-population-with-new-national-park-in-sydneys-south-west?
“The commitment would make a koala park in south-west Sydney a reality within three years….The party is also proposing to set up a koala centre to support volunteer wildlife carers in the area and establish infrastructure such as exclusion fencing on roadways and koala crossings.”
3 years will be up in March 2026. But the NSW Office of Environment & Heritage web now states that the (smaller) park will involve:
- "transferring existing public lands within the proposed park to the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) by September 2026"