Dear supporters,

I want to begin by saying an enormous thank you – over 24,000 of you have now signed the petition to protect the precious koalas near the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape. Your support means the world.

Please know that there are some politicians listening. I have demanded answers directly from the government and spoken up about the suffering of these koalas in parliament.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJoHO9CJ1Kj/

But now, to really make them listen, we need to take the next step – especially if you live in Victoria.

Victorian residents, please add your name to the official Victorian Parliament petition written by The Koala Alliance, and sponsored by me.

This one requires at least 10,000 signatures from Victorian residents to be formally tabled and debated.

You can sign it here: https://campsite.bio/georgie.purcell.ajp (its the third link down).

This will take just a minute, but it could be the key to real political action. If this petition hits the target, it means the government must respond – and finally answer to all of us.

On a more personal note, I wanted to share a moment that’s stayed with me.

Not long ago, I had the chance to meet an orphaned koala joey at a wildlife shelter – a tiny, wide-eyed bundle of fur with impossibly soft ears and the most cautious curiosity you can imagine. She had lost her mother to habitat destruction, and it was only through the tireless work of local wildlife carers that she survived at all.

As I held her, I remember thinking how fragile and innocent she was – completely dependent on human kindness after human decisions had left her without a home. I think of her often, and it breaks my heart to imagine joeys like her potentially succumbing to starvation or predation in the aftermath of the cull near Budj Bim – the result of a deeply flawed aerial shooting operation that did not use accurate or peer-reviewed welfare methodology.

We should never allow such unnecessary suffering – not when alternatives exist, and not when the land in question is so ecologically and culturally significant.

If you’ve already signed both petitions – thank you.

We owe it to the remaining (but rapidly dwindling) koalas and their habitats to stand up and say: this is not acceptable.

Let’s keep pushing – for wildlife, and for accountability.

With hope and determination,

Georgie Purcell MP
Animal Justice Party Member for Northern Victoria