CANBERRA • The Australian government has announced a new strategy to protect koalas around the country.

Ms Sussan Ley, the minister for the environment, said yesterday that under the new strategy, a national koala population census will be undertaken to identify key habitat areas and protect them. The areas range across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

"This is a line in the sand, we're ruling a line under where we are on koalas right now," she said. "We are doing this because it needs to happen. I have been so frustrated that no one could give me the data I needed... It's just not there - only in patches.

"I don't think there's been enough national leadership on this iconic species before."

The A$18 million (S$17.7 million) policy includes A$14 million in funding for habitat restoration and A$4 million for koala health research and the census.

It will also make it mandatory for state and territory governments to report on koala populations and conservation strategies on an annual basis.

The data in the initial census will be used by the government to prevent state and territory governments from weakening habitat protection, potentially putting the federal government on a collision course with state planning regimes for agricultural land clearing and urban development.

Ms Helene Marsh, the chair of the Threatened Species Scientific Committee, described the census as a "very significant move", saying there were "lots of places where koalas occur where we know very, very little" about the population. "It will put the whole koala strategy at national level on a completely different footing than it's been in the past," she added.

XINHUA