Trapped, Burnt and Shot

Just how genuine is the public’s affection for koalas? That is being tested in Victoria because of the questionable aerial culling of koalas at Budj Bim National Park recently.

So far, a petition for an inquiry into koala management practices and the impact of the blue gum plantations on koala populations, launched by the Koala Alliance and sponsored by Georgie Purcell of the Animal Justice Party, has received less than 7,000 signatures. It needs 10,000 Victorians to care and sign, by the 19^th August, to create the push for the inquiry. With a population of over 7 million people, finding 10,000 (0.14%) people to care doesn’t sound like a big ask but so far it isn’t looking good for the koala. It is the same apathy that has enabled the federal government to postpone its national environmental promises.

So, why is this inquiry desperately needed? Some conservationists have supported the aerial cull, endorsing the Victorian government’s approach to ‘preventing animal suffering’ as a result of the lack of food supposedly caused by the fires in the park. Others have called the arial cull cruel and inhumane. Dr Stephen Phillips, an internationally recognised specialist koala ecologist with more than 45 years of experience in koala conservation saying, “[Anyone who] had a role to play in sanctioning the actions that were undertaken you should be removed from your position of gilded authority and – if such a thing is even possible in Victoria – prosecuted to the full extent of the law for animal cruelty”.

While transparency and an inquiry are desperately needed, what is even more critical is that this incident isn’t looked at in isolation. And isolation is the operative word here because these koalas, like many other species, have been left in an untenable situation for any wildlife population dependent on a forest habitat. This region of Victoria is denuded of trees.

To help clarify just how trapped these koalas are let’s look a little closer at this region on Google Earth and Google Maps.

There is no point arguing over the ‘humane’ shooting of a trapped population because of the potential lack of food. The lack of food is a result of being trapped, not the fire. Fires are natural events in Victoria, not having any tree cover for hundreds of kilometres is unnatural.

This most recent tragedy, just one of many, is the result of years of failed environmental policies from both major parties and also the minor ones. Historic, unchecked land clearing for agriculture has left this part of the state stripped of trees, this has remained the case in recent decades. This needs far more exposure in the media and must be a part of the public debate.

There is basically no tree cover between the Budj Bim National Park and the Otways; a distance of about 180km. The entire area has been cleared and is used for agriculture. So where were these koalas supposed to go after the fire? Where are the wildlife corridors that enable escape and migration?

While forestry and plantations were acknowledged as a part of the problems faced by koalas, agriculture is too often ignored. Over 30% of the land in Victoria is used for grazing, which is predominantly in the West of the state. That’s nearly 7.3 million hectares. Surely it would not throw any farmers into destitution if maybe 1 or 2% of this massive area is set aside for wildlife corridors. But that discussion is never had, farmers are a much more protected species in this country than any wildlife threatened with extinction.

Sometime countries simply get stuck. In the same way that America is stuck when it comes to gun control, Australia is stuck in relation to environmental degradation. This led to a 2020 report by Swiss Re, the world’s second-largest re-insurer, stating of the G20 countries, Australia is ranked in second (worst) place, after South Africa, for failing and fragile ecosystems.

If we could find the public and political will to have a proper conversation about ecosystem protection in this country, we could finally start talking about the corridors for life to create the vital lifelines for biodiversity, which also help rebuild healthy ecosystems.

Australia must build these wildlife corridors at scale, including in this region of Western Victoria. The importance of biolinks – corridors for life – is introduced in Why Corridors Are Vital for All Life | Setting the Stage, which reflects, “All of nature is waiting for us to finally become human”. But are Australians ready to stop our completely selfish overextraction of nature and self-absorbed lifestyles?

Writer Sarah Wilson, once known for her work on wellness culture but who now researches climate and collapse, said in a recent interview with The Guardian, “It’s narcissism. Worrying about your gut biome when the world’s burning is too indulgent … I think it’s particularly rampant in Australia, where the opulence is such that that’s what people now spend their time doing.”

The MSM have shown zero interest in a proper discussion of the environmental failures in this country. Conservation organisations and academics have adapted accordingly and even stopped questioning government policy for fear of losing funding or their perceived status of having a seat at the table. Australians claim to care about the environment, but only in an abstract way, as virtue signalling. The reason the Albanese government has endlessly postponed the long overdue update of the EPBC Act is that it knows it’s not going to cost them any votes come election time.

While we stand still (and hence go backwards), the climate and biosphere system changes, with just one recent example being, Why the Southern jet stream is shifting – and what it means – Earth.com. The consequences of these shifts will be massive and are already felt by many farmers in Australia, with the flooding in NSW and QLD and drought in Victoria.

But again, the discussion remains obsessed with the ‘incident’ (fire, flood, drought) itself and the long-term need for adaption and mitigation falls by the wayside of media disinterest, public apathy and lack of political capital to be gained from engaging with the predicament we are in.

If we can’t even get 10,000 people to sign a petition for koalas – a supposed Australian much-loved icon – what chance we will get better government policies on the environment any time soon?