Is it true that most Australians vote against conservation laws and don't care if koalas become extinct?

Question

I just watched this show on Animal Planet about koalas. Some of it was about a conservation group in Brisbane called the AKF. The show made it sound like these people are fighting an up-hill battle with just about everybody in Australia. I don't know how old that show is, or whether that is just the opinion of the Canadian television producers, so I'm hoping every one here from Australia would like to comment. Do you and most people you know care about the survival of koalas? Do you vote for conservation projects and politicians who support conservation (in general)? Thanx.

Answer 1

hey, g'day! we in Aus care about our environment heaps. We have this problem though, its simply this. Our eco system is delicate, difficult and full of extreems in climate, we have natural bushfires, floods, droughts and a distinct lack of resources and manpower to deal with it all. We have a huge country with people mainly living in coastal areas. So when a bush fire starts from a lightning strike miles from anywhere usually way out of reach, what are we expected to do? Yes we care but its not always possible to do anything about it.
Koalas are reasonably well protected by our conservation laws, which are extensive, but to give you some idea, during the fires of 2003 in the snowy mountains, and accross the east coast, millions of animals died, birds dropped from the skies semi cooked, and the koala population which had been regenerated in the Kosiosko national park, was lost, all except one which became a local hero and has remained the hope for another generation in that area.Of course other areas had koalas, but yes this was a huge loss.As for kangaroos, well, i personally think we dont treat them as well as we could, but most people care a lot, recently a cull was intended to reduce numbers, because they do breed very fast and they eat the sparce vegetation during the drought to the point where really there are too many for the land to support. The cull was stopped due to an public outcry, which unfortunateley may lead to their starvation instead. We the people want our land to be full of wildlife, which generally it is, but we all suffer when the environment is dead set on killing all of us, animals and humans too, this country is hard and unforgiving , only the strongest survive, which is how it should be. The National Zoo and Aquarium in the A.C.T. actually fly the perfect eucalyptus leaves in for their collection of Koalas at huge expense every day. There are other wildlife parks, and 'zoo's that also do similar things for their animals, check out Australia Zoo , that's Bindi Irwin's Dads place...the crocodile hunter Steve Irwin dedicated his life to wildlife conservation...its big here, conservation, even those animals and species that few people know about are well researched and protected both locally (like it only takes a threatened species to stop a whole urban developement in its tracks) and Nationally.We have huge areas of Native wildlife habitats, Wilderness areas , State and national forest...check out our new fishing restrictions up the east Coast, Or search for info on Kakadoo National Forest...there must be millions of Koalas ,Roos, frogmouth owls, Eagles, Lizards and dragons up there, all almost impossible to reach, let alone see, Koalas are almost invisible up in the tree tops, but we aussies know when they are there or not, yes we do vote on conservation issues, and we almost always win for our animal life.

Answer 2

Hello, most Australians I know, do not vote against people who are conservative. In fact I am surrounded more by conservative people, than non-conservative. I live in an area in Australia, where water is very valuable, and no one here mistreats the land, or anything on it, especially the Koala's.
The Koala is a dear little creature that is only found in Australia, it is a very special animal, but is subject to the environment in the fact that people are cutting down trees, and destroying habitat of the Koala's. This has to be stopped, I myself am in a wheelchair, and would park myself in front of any tree that a Koala lived in if I thought it was going to be cut down.
I wished that Australians would turn from wood heating, to more green heating, such as natural gas, and solar panels. I do believe that there could be a solar panel developed that could cover the roof of a house, and then that house could buy back the power at a discount, but also that the solar panel could be developed to draw moisture from the air, between the panel and roof, and run off through the guttering into storage tanks for use in the house. This would eliminate alot of carbon emmission. We need to be conservative on this, and to vote conservatively in the next elections.

Answer 3

most proposals that threaten wild life will be blocked in Australia ( a multi- million dollar mine was recently stopped due to the presence of small endangered critters)

however in the case of the koala, the koala is not an endangered animal by any means. in areas of Australia such as phillip island they are over populated to the extent they are starving.

also Australia is a very large country and money for conservation can only be stretched so far. it is most likely the area isn't being protected because the money could be better spent else where.

i would say the program you saw was using shock tactics because Australia has far more national parks than most other countries some in fact are bigger than most countrys :)

so no people don't generally vote against conservation laws its normaly the opperset.

Answer 4

Look at - http://www.savethekoala.com

Yes - it is very much so an up hill battle, people don't give a ... sh*t about our wildlife, when I say people more so real estate development and construction. They can flatten so many forests and bushland but don't relocate any koalas or other wildlife in that area. Their thoughts are ‘they can take care of themselves.’

Where I live (near the beach) but on the other side of me there is huge clearings of bush and trees. They are slowly developing it into 'resorts' - the Kangaroos have nowhere to go and are being pushed out. Daily you see them hit on the side of the road it's so sad.

Bottom line is ‘the people’ may give a sh*t – when it comes to the stage of extinction … although we are off a wee-way yet for that, but it can sneak up on you - look how in danger of extinction the panda is these days.

.. so go and foster a Koala now !

Answer 5

I've learned to stay away from these questions because answering them is a no win for me. I did not vote against gay marriage, although I will if it is put on a ballot in my state. Why would I do such a thing? The power of your argument (and it is powerful) is that it appeals to my moral convictions. As you rightly point out, arbitrarily denying someone a practice that I engage in is immoral. I cannot quarrel with that. But what of my other moral commitments? I believe, rightly or wrongly, that same gender sexual expression is profoundly immoral. Am I to jettison that belief, sacrificing it at the altar of social pressure? Am I to endorse a practice I consider deeply offensive to my God? And that's what voting yes would be. You have no reason at all to trust me, but I mean this in all sincerity. If it were possible to vote yes without betraying my deepest convictions I would do so in a heartbeat. If I were unsure of my position, I would vote yes. But I am not and I cannot.

Answer 6

We do not ignore the problems of conservation in regard to koalas . It is not always a conservation issue but a management issue as the animal can only exist in a certain environment that has an abundance of Blue Gum trees and if the food chain is in danger so is the Koalas. It is not unusual to have to shift large numbers to places where the blue gums are plentiful. ~~

Answer 7

I am not from Australia but I think that the conservation of any wildlife is very important in any country. In the USA we try to save our wildlife as much as possable I think that the wildlife of any country is very important to the well being of humans. I wish you luck on saving the poor koalas.

Answer 8

i am an Australian, and i do want to save the koalas, in fact i am a conservationist. i was born to save wildlife, but i am not living in Australia anymore, but everyone i know, my families, my friends, my neighborhood in Australia want to save the koalas.