The plight of our threatened koalas brought a bizarre twist at the recent G20 conference in Brisbane.
Countless images of the 20 koala-hugging leaders, the most powerful people on the planet, who control about 85 per cent of the economy, were beamed around the world.
While they joked, cuddled and enjoyed the experience, little did they realise that only 30 kilometres away, here in the Redlands, the national icon is being treated with disdain in a rapidly declining environment that will soon see them hustled to the point of extinction in this area.
Yes, the world loves our koalas, but it seems we don’t.
Even the flamboyant Mick Jagger strutted the stage of the Brisbane Entertainment Centre at the Rolling Stones concert last week holding a life-sized koala.
Although his was a toy, his actions joined the world’s ongoing admiration for our national icon.
But here we are in the Redlands, allowing the ongoing destruction of koala habitat to the point that this area will be known as a place where koalas were . . . not are.
The rush for development in the Redlands over the past 20 years has hunted koalas – which incidentally are a prominent tourist attraction where overseas visitors seek out this area to see them in the wild and in so doing bring millions of dollars to the city – to the threatened species list.
While progress and development is accepted; little in the Redlands has been undertaken with the thought of preserving our national icon.
Development is not the only foe of koalas.
Uncontrolled dogs and cats along with disease have played their part in the decline in numbers.
But combined, not enough is being done to reverse the threats to koalas.
We can level some blame at pet owners, but nothing has been done to invoke laws for animals to be restrained at night.
We can accuse drivers, but where are enforceable speed restrictions?
We can blame disease, but very little has been done to find solutions.
And we blame development where colonies of koalas are being left homeless with little thought to their future.
Koala food trees are being axed across the Redlands at a frightening rate, destroying many colonies of this vulnerable species.
Simply, insufficient is being done across the board to find solutions.
The shame is that Redland City Council, with a koala as its logo, is not doing enough to halt the rapidly diminishing numbers of koalas in our city.
