Developers may be placing koalas at their greatest ever risk of extinction according to conservation groups.
The ABC reported that it has obtained a copy of the Federal Government’s draft guidelines regarding how industry determines if its activities will affect habitat.
Critics of the guidelines claim the proposed amendments will give developers too much power. In NSW, Queensland and the ACT, developers are required to account for koala listings when making building applications.
The Australian Koala Foundation are campaigning against proposed changes in which developers will conduct their own sustainability assessments of habitat areas they wish to occupy.
The controversy comes in the wake of evidence that suggests koalas are extinct on the NSW far south coast.
A study based in Eurobodalla has recorded only one sighting since the research project commenced last year.
Koalas were added to the threatened species list in April of 2012 after many years of lobbying.
SAM WORRAD