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WHITEHAVEN'S THREATS TO KOALAS

In February 2022 the Koala was listed as‘endangered‘ in QLD, NSW and ACT under the EPBC Act.

Land clearing, and climate change collectively contribute to habitat fragmentation, limiting the availability of eucalyptus trees—their habitat and primary food source, pushing them perilously close to the brink of extinction. 

Whitehaven Coal's massive coal projects will destroy koala habitat and will almost certainly directly cause the deaths of koalas who depend on this habitat.

Tanya Plibersek hugs a koala

The Albanese government and Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek have committed to "no more extinctions." But if they do not protect the habitat of our threatened species their commitments will fail. 

“The need for action has never been greater,” Minister Tanya Plibersek has said. “I will not shy away from difficult problems or accept environmental decline and extinction as inevitable.”

Yet at any moment Environment Minister Plibersek could still approve Whitehaven's coal projects (listed below) dooming koalas to their deaths.

Vickery extension

Whitehaven’s Vickery extension project has federal environmental approval to clear up to 80 hectares of koala habitat. In making the approval decision, former Environment Minister Sussan Ley determined that the project ‘would...
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Blackwater South

Whitehaven recently purchased the Blackwater South project from BMA who referred the project for assessment under Federal environmental law in 2022. The project could impact more than 6,800 hectares of habitat, equivalent...
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Winchester South

Whitehaven’s Winchester South project is the largest proposed green field coal mine in Australia. Whitehaven’s terrestrial ecology report for the project found that 314.5 hectares of koala habitat was identified to be...
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