Plan to extend Queensland coalmine would bulldoze ‘critical' koala habitat
The campaign group Lock the Gate used drones with thermal imaging cameras to find 13 koalas in one night in trees earmarked for clearing by mining company Glencore.
Glencore wants to clear 680 hectares of land – including 600 hectares of koala habitat – to expand its Hail Creek mine west of Mackay.
Lock the Gate surveyed about a quarter of the area to be cleared in June using the drones.
'This is by far the most koalas we've ever seen in the path of a planned coalmine,' said the group's Queensland coordinator, Maggie Mckeown.
Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton's Clear Air column as a free newsletter
'The habitat next to Hail Creek coalmine is clearly a critical home for koalas.'
In 2022 the federal government raised the threat status for koalas in Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT to endangered after estimates suggested their numbers in those states had halved between 2001 and 2021.
Land clearing is one of the key threats facing the koala, alongside disease, traffic, logging and dog attacks.
Dr Bill Ellis, who leads the Koala Ecology Group at the University of Queensland, said the koalas at Hail Creek were part of the Clarke Connors Range population that was nationally significant because of its size and health, and was a genetically distinct group that existed across a range of habitats.
The high number of koalas detected by the drones confirmed the health of the population, he said.
He was sceptical that offsets – an option being considered by Glencore that puts alternative habitat aside – would be enough to protect the koalas. He said approving further coalmining would probably increase traffic on the Peak Downs Highway that connects Bowen Basin mines to Mackay and is a known death hotspot for koalas.
In an environmental assessment submitted to the Queensland government, consultants for Glencore said the impacts from the clearing would be 'unavoidable and would adversely affect habitat critical to the survival of this species'.
About 600 hectares of habitat for the vulnerable squatter pigeon will also be cleared if the plans are approved, the assessment said.
Sign up to Clear Air Australia
Adam Morton brings you incisive analysis about the politics and impact of the climate crisis
after newsletter promotion
UN-backed research revealed earlier this year that emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane from the mine were likely between three and eight times higher than officially reported.
The extension plans are still before the state government and have not yet been sent to the federal government for environmental assessment.
But Lock the Gate, the Queensland Conservation Council (QCC) and the Mackay Conservation Group have written to the federal environment minister, Murray Watt, to ask for a moratorium on project applications in the area 'until the population size, health and habitat [of koalas] can be thoroughly investigated'.
Charlie Cox, coal and gas campaigner at QCC, said koalas deserved the highest levels of protection but 'in central Queensland they're losing habitat to coalmining companies who bulldoze their homes and fuel the climate crisis'.
A Queensland government spokesperson said a decision on Glencore's application to amend its state environmental authority was expected by late 2025.
A Glencore spokesperson said: 'We are very aware of the importance of existing koala habitat. We are working closely with state and federal governments to deliver an effective environmental management plan to minimise impact on flora and fauna in the Hail Creek project area.'
The Guardian approached Watt for comment, but was referred to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
A department spokesperson said it was aware of Glencore's project, adding: 'Any action that is likely to have a significant impact on a matter protected under national environment law must be referred to the department for consideration under the national environment law.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
35 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Two wallaby sightings reported in Suffolk
At first glance Steven Ellis thought the small creature in the distance was a deer, but he soon realised he was witnessing something far more unusual. Ellis was near the village of Ilketshall St Andrew in Suffolk when he took out his camera and took a photograph of the animal, which turned out to be a wallaby. 'We've got quite a few deer around, so I thought I must be mistaken,' he said. 'But then I thought it was a kangaroo. I don't think they're far off. I stood there thinking: 'Who do I ring to tell them?' But I thought no one was going to believe me.' Wallabies are native to Australia but small wild populations descended from escapees do exist in the UK and sightings have become more common, especially in the Isle of Man. Ellis's encounter on Tuesday was not to be the last. Suffolk police received a call of another sighting the next day about seven miles away. The animal hopped from the road into a field just outside of the village of Wissett. A spokesperson for Suffolk police said that despite the brief flurry of attention no further sightings had been confirmed, and no individual or organisation had come forward to claim ownership of the animal. Police are asking the public to report any sightings directly to them. Occasional escapes from private collections have also been documented in recent years. Wallabies are generally considered not dangerous to humans, but they can be unpredictable and should be treated with caution. Those hand-reared or accustomed to human presence can be gentle, but others can be easily startled especially if they feel threatened.
The Guardian
13 hours ago
- The Guardian
Eighty years after Victory in the Pacific Day, Ron – now 101 – remembers a slightly lonely celebration
Ben Chifley called it a 'glorious moment'. On 15 August 1945 half a million people poured on to the streets of Sydney to celebrate the end of six years of war. News spread quickly after Emperor Hirohito announced that Japan had accepted the allies' demand for unconditional surrender. It was a devastating defeat for the Japanese, whose cities lay in ruins, but in Australia there was relief. 'An entire city felt the burdens of six weary, war-laden years roll from its shoulders, and plunged headlong and full-throatedly into celebration,' the Sydney Morning Herald reported. For the 80th anniversary of Victory in Japan Day, Albert 'Ron' Gee Kee recalls his wartime service. Now 101, Gee Kee was 18 when he enlisted. The war in the Pacific had begun in 1941 and, by 1943, Japan was on Australia's doorstep. You could either run for your life or join up, he says. 'After the bombing of Darwin, it seemed imminent that the invasion could come to Australia,' he says. Sign up: AU Breaking News email 'Living in far north Queensland right up near the war zone, there were rumours at that particular time after I turned 18 that there was going to be conscription, because most of our Australian troops were caught in Singapore.' More than 130,000 allied troops were captured in the fall of Singapore in 1942 and hundreds of thousands of Australians were serving in the Middle East, north Africa and the Mediterranean, leaving their home vulnerable. 'I didn't want to go to New Guinea to fight – so I joined the navy because I thought it would be a better life,' Gee Kee says. But the navy posted him to Milne Bay in New Guinea, which he calls the 'worst place in the world' due to heat, rain and malaria. He worked as a coder. 'No messages could be transmitted or telegraphed over the air unless all messages were put into code and that was my duty.' The station covered the Coral Sea and south Pacific – 'We were kept busy.' After about a year there he spent nine months at Gen Douglas MacArthur's headquarters in Brisbane before he was deployed to the Northern Territory. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'I was in Darwin when the war ended and so our end-of-the-war celebration was just by ourselves at the wireless station,' he says. He adds: 'VP Day brings back memories of how I lived and survived during that period, but also that I have to remember all my friends who have now passed away.' After the war Gee Kee became a farmer in Tully before moving to Sydney, where he married Betty Fatt. They had two daughters. He's the uncle of the purple Wiggle, Jeff Fatt, and grandfather of the actor Nina Liu, and he still lives in Sydney. A senior historian at the Australian War Memorial, Dr Lachlan Grant, said in six years of war – beginning in September 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland – 1 million Australians served in the armed forces, from a population of just 7 million. Grant said 40,000 Australians had died in the war and more than 30,000 had become prisoners of war. 'The Second World War and the defeat of Nazi Germany, Fascism and Japanese militarism was one of the most defining events of the twentieth century,' he said. RSL NSW is holding a Victory in the Pacific commemoration service at the Cenotaph at Martin Place in Sydney on Friday. Other ceremonies will be held at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, the Australian War Memorial in Canberra and the State War Memorial in Perth.
Daily Mail
17 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Plane drops 28,000ft in seconds after mid-air emergency
Terrified passengers texted worried messages to their loved ones as a Virgin Australia flight from Sydney to Brisbane suddenly plunged 28,000ft within seconds. Flight VA993 suddenly lost cabin pressure at high altitude just 40 minutes after taking off at 8.30pm on Thursday. The Boeing 737-800 immediately dropped from its 37,000ft cruising altitude down to under 10,000ft, as pilots sounded an emergency call to air traffic control. One passenger on the flight sent an urgent message to her husband when the plane began to lose altitude. Haley told her husband 'plane's dropping' in a text message, according to Network Ten. 'Emergency landing – love you,' she added. The plane continued safely at the lower altitude - where the plane doesn't need to be pressurised - until it landed in Brisbane. Footage from onboard the aircraft showed oxygen masks hanging from the overhead cabin compartments as flight attendants walked the aisle to calm passengers. An emergency PAN call is a standard call for assistance in an urgent situation. It differs from a Mayday call, which is only issued in a life-threatening situation. Altitude graphs from Flightradar24 showed the plane's steep descent from its peak altitude of 37,000 feet. The Virgin spokesman said no passengers or crew members were injured in the incident. He said the aircraft will be investigated by engineers and the airline will review the situation against their safety standards. The airline's guest relations workers have reached out to affected passengers. When planes experience 'rapid' depressurisation pilots execute a drop down to a breathable altitude as quickly as possible. During the descent G-Forces remain around 1G. As the aircraft maintains a steady speed in the dive, vertical acceleration is mostly stable. In the case of 'rapid' depressurisation, passengers could experience ear pain, or 'popping', temporary loss of hearing and headaches, according to a report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). In a previous depressurisation event, the ATSB said passengers 'also reported high levels of anxiety and feelings of panic, with associated physiological symptoms such as a 'racing heart'. 'Several passengers reported feelings of faintness, light-headedness and or tremors. Depressurisation can occur within seconds and is associated with the sound of a bang and a 'fogging' of the cabin's air. Pilots are trained to deal with such an incident, but depressurisation can still pose a danger if crew members are incapacitated by a lack of oxygen.
