Vic Jurskis

When koalas were declared as Endangered north of Victoria, the expert guesstimate of numbers in NSW was 36,350, a very precise and very wrong number. Now, two and a half years after effective surveys commenced in NSW, the estimate is 274,000, eight times higher. This is a less precise and more accurate number, but probably an underestimate. In any case it shows that NSW koalas are not endangered.

Premier Chris Minns says it’s unthinkable that koalas are at risk of extinction. He’s spot on. Koalas are not now and never have been at risk of extinction ... Environment Minister Penny Sharpe says the Great Koala National Park has been a dream for more than a decade. Indeed. The Great Koala Park is the culmination of a campaign by NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service to extend their empire ... Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty says the Government is committed to a sustainable forestry industry in NSW. I think her ministerial title gives the lie to that.

It's never been a bright idea to translocate koalas and it's not the first time that they've been secretly translocated from the irrupting Sydney catchments sub-population. The NSW Government’s secrecy is intended to hide the fact that there are just too many koalas.

According to Forestry Australia’s Dr Freeman, National Parks don’t guarantee biodiversity ... The Endangered listing of koalas north of the Victorian border and the idea of a Great Koala National Park are farcical. The koala is an irruptive species. High numbers indicate an irruption, not a stable population.

The transcript of proceedings of the Independent Forestry Panel in teleconference with the Independent Koala Expert Panel on 1 November 2024 has been released. The Forestry Panel will oversee the destruction of sustainable forestry in NSW to 'save’ koalas.

Vic Jurskis. No matter what the cost of the Great Koala National Park it’s a scam and NSW’s Environment Minister has real numbers which prove it. Unfortunately, the numbers will no longer be politically dangerous once the Park has been legislated and the renewable timber industry has been destroyed to appease the Greens.

Laura Jones’ prize-winning portrait of Winton is helping to promote a documentary film supposedly aimed to save koalas from extinction ... The multimillion-dollar, multinational koala industry is part of the problem, not the solution. Well-meaning people are unwittingly donating money to increase koalas’ suffering. Sensible fire management could restore healthy and safe landscapes with naturally low densities of healthy koalas ...

The government’s own research on the north coast has confirmed that forestry does not affect koala numbers ... New data from field surveys of 1000 sites, trumpeted by the incoming Environment Minister and commenced a year ago, will not be released in time to stimulate or inform public submissions on the Koala Strategy ... The result is preordained.

Vic Jurskis comments on a research article on the causes of morbidity and mortality in rescued koala joeys ... "academics don't see the big picture of forest ecology and management ... the scientific solution would be to restore frequent mild burning in the bush ... "

Vic Jurskis. Koala plagues and megafires go together. Koalas are breeding faster than ever on all the soft young growth generated by Black Summer. The scrub development is unprecedented. Our next extreme fire season will kill more people and animals than ever before. But the koala is in no danger of extinction.