The Berejiklian Government has refused to commit to 31 recommendations from the recent parliamentary inquiry into koalas which spectacularly warned the iconic species will be extinct before 2050.

Of the Inquiry’s 42 urgent recommendations, the Government has signalled it will only commit to 11 – or one quarter.
 
14 recommendations were effectively ignored, or ‘noted’; while 17 were ‘supported in principle’ but not supported in practice.
 
Labor’s Shadow Minister for Environment, Kate Washington, has condemned the Government’s weak response: “The parliamentary inquiry made it crystal clear that koalas will soon become extinct in NSW unless urgent action is taken to protect their habitat.”

“Instead of heeding the shocking warning, the Government has failed to commit to 31 of the inquiry’s 42 recommendations. It’s a reprehensible response, as it condemns our national icon to a bleak then non-existent future," Ms Washington said.

“Somehow, the Government has found a way to weasel out of almost every recommendation. They can’t even commit to maintaining the exclusion fences that already exist alongside major roads. The Government’s lamentable response to this important inquiry spells danger for koalas in NSW.

“Kicking the can down the road is not an option. Yet in their response the Government has conceded that some crucial issues won’t even be considered until 2022, let alone resolved. That’s not urgent action. That’s shameful.  It’s proof the Liberals and Nationals are incapable of saving the koala.

“It is becoming blindingly obvious that the Premier’s legacy, and the legacy of her Environment Minister, Matt Kean, will be the extinction of koalas in NSW.”