If you read the news, you will know that the US mining giant Alcoa is in the spotlight again for repeated breaches for illegally destroying habitat for endangered species including black cockatoos, quokkas, and numbats. Repeated enforcement action by the government has failed to prevent ongoing habitat destruction. In fact, Alcoa continued to log habitat for endangered species while being investigated, and the federation government let it happen.
What many don’t know is that Alcoa is not only let off the hook for destroying irreplaceable forest for endangered species, but they are also given permits by our Victorian state government to “manage” koalas at their Aluminium Smelter in Portland, Victoria.
The information we’re sharing here, is not on their website. This notice for Alcoa’s ‘Koala Health Assessment” was provided to the Koala Alliance anonymously. It says land will be closed to the public this week, while they conduct koala health assessments within their 19-hectare bluegum planation. This week, they will be flagging koalas down from trees, assessing them, then euthanising many of them. How do we know this? Because historical records show that these health checks, result in about 50% of koalas being euthanised.
What are Health Assessments?
As we’ve explained before, health assessments are really population control activities, koalas are not rehabilitated if found to be in poor body condition. They are killed. Companies like Alcoa and our state government soften the language to convince the public that this is for the welfare of the koalas. Also, by calling them “health assessments” kill numbers don’t need to be published for public scrutiny.
In a media release by Alcoa in 2023, they say they were granted a DEECA authorisation to “health check” koalas on their land after concerns about ‘overpopulation’. In the release, it says “since 2019, 348 koalas have been assessed. Of those, 79 females have had fertility control treatment, and a total of 152 koalas have been euthanised due to “poor health””. Although, a separate report by Sustainalytics indicates that there were an additional 40 koalas euthanised. If this information is correct, that will bring the kill rate to 192 koalas.
That means, 55% of koalas are being euthanised due to “poor health”.
Alcoa has been conducting these health assessments since 2019, and yet this media release is the first and only mention of kill numbers on their website despite 8 years of health assessments.
The health impacts of fluoride emissions on koalas, macropods and possums
In 2021, an ABC article reports that many of the koalas on Alcoa’s land were suffering from Fluorosis. Fluorosis is caused by fluoride emissions from the smelter deposited on the vegetation that is in turn eaten by wildlife. Back in 2005, Alcoa commissioned researchers from the University of Melbourne to conduct a study on kangaroos after welfare issues were observed. This six-year study found that kangaroos suffered dental, skeletal and bone-type fluorosis from these emissions. Consequently, Alcoa developed a kangaroo management plan, which permitted them to kill the kangaroos.
A Sustainalytics Report found that Alcoa knew about the effects of fluoride on the local wildlife since 2005 and yet did nothing to address the impacts to koalas or other wildlife. In a separate Age article published in 2022, Alcoa act like this information is new and that it was what prompted the koala management plan, but of course they had known for 18 years.
Alcoa hired the company EcoPlan to help them devise their koala management plan in 2023, which aside from allowing them to handle and kill koalas, laid out plans to remove the koala habitat near the smelter. This was stated in an Age article by an Alcoa spokesperson in 2022: “To reduce the risks fluoride can pose to koalas, Portland Aluminium will gradually harvest its main blue gum plantation and other areas of known koala habitat within close proximity to the smelter over the next two years,”. To offset this destruction of habitat they had plans to plant 18 hectares of native trees away from the smelter, but as we all know, offsets serve no benefits to koalas left displaced without food or shelter, nor will they provide benefits to future koalas for about another 10-15 years – hence the need for Alcoa to reduce the population.
No transparency
Looking at the available information and the timeline, the information simply doesn’t add up. Alcoa say they have been doing health assessments since 2019 but didn’t have a koala management plan developed until 2023. The report from Sustainalytics mentions 40 koalas killed in 2022, so how did Alcoa have a permit to euthanise koalas prior to the management plan? and why didn’t they add those 40 koalas to their kill tally in their media release, dated 2023?
This highlights again a complete lack of transparency about how koalas are managed in this state, something I’ve highlighted many times, way before the Budj Bim helicopter shootings.
The big question that needs to be asked is- how the hell does a US mining giant get government approval to capture and kill koalas on their property year in and year out without attempting to mitigate the suffering or environmental impact on wildlife?
This very secretive arrangement between DEECA and industry, raises serious concerns about who else is getting signed approval to cull koalas on their property? How would we know who’s killing koalas, or how many are being killed when none of this information is available to the public? For all we know, blue gum plantation harvesters are given permits to “cull” koalas prior to plantation harvests, to keep desperate, starving koalas from wandering into public areas where tourists might see the grim reality of what’s really happening to koalas in this region.
On the Alcoa website they post this statement:
“Koala welfare is a high priority for Portland Aluminium, and our management plan is being actioned in consultation with Victoria’s Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA), and independent experts.”
The only information we could find about their “independent expert” was in Alcoa’s 2023 sustainability report. They mention hiring a consultant from Eco Plan Australia to perform the health assessments on these koalas. Eco Plan is run by an ecologist and although the ABN is still active, the website isn’t and there seems to be no public facing information about this company.
The eighth year of Alcoa koala “health assessments” started yesterday and the public has been asked to “keep out!”
Why would a US mining giant need to keep prying eyes off their land while conducting “health assessments” on our koalas? This all feels far too familiar. Alcoa has become very good at avoiding public scrutiny when it comes to practices that impact the environment.
The independent research by Sustainalytics rates Alcoa’s operations as Category 3, stating that they have a significant impact on biodiversity. This rating was given due to the extended period during which animals have been severely affected by the smelter, indicating that Alcoa’s management of the problem has been completely inadequate.
Who is to blame?
We can’t place all the blame on Alcoa alone. DEECA and the EPA have known about the fluoride impacts on wildlife since they issued the first permit to kill kangaroos in 2005. According to an Alcoa spokesperson, the fluoride emissions emanating from the plant were within EPA guidelines and did not pose a threat to human health. So, as DEECA are the regulators of wildlife and they’ve known about the issues since 2005, why the hell was nothing done to mitigate the pollution and reduce the impact on wildlife?
This is yet another example of the government’s complete lack of care and oversight when it comes to safeguarding wildlife from industry. Much like plantation harvesting, which is supposedly “regulated,” DEECA again leaves the fox in charge of the henhouse. There is no proper monitoring of practices, no strict conditions preventing industry from leaving animals without food and shelter, and no real requirements to stop polluting the environment.
Most notably, there is no requirement for forward planning to support wildlife into the future. Instead, more permits are issued to keep killing wildlife in order to solve what has clearly become a problem for both industry and government. As part of Alcoa’s management plan, they have been logging the plantation where the koalas live and if culling didn’t occur starving koalas would be wandering the streets of Portland, dazed and confused. We can’t have that, can we? What would the tourists think?
The fact that DEECA has been issuing these permits for so long without public scrutiny shows that this is not about animal welfare. Through this system, kill numbers remain hidden, DEECA is not required to explain itself, and the focus remains on treating the symptom rather than addressing the cause of the problem.
It is clear that DEECA has little genuine interest in wildlife welfare or conservation and is failing to fulfill its duty of care as a caretaker of wildlife.
So, what is the answer? The Koala Alliance believes that wildlife will only be properly protected and meaningful conservation outcomes achieved when wildlife regulation is overseen by a body independent of government.
While DEECA are the caretakers, conflicts of interest will always get in the way.
