In a direct personal email to Wildlife Queensland, Queensland's Minister for the Environment, Desley Boyle, has stated her position and made promises about the protection of platypus populations in Obi Obi Creek, Maleny, Queensland, during the construction of a Woolworths supermarket on the banks of the waterway.

Wildlife Queensland's Policies Manager Des Boyland challenged the Minister in mid-June to assure the society's members that the platypus were being protected as fully as they should be under the State's Nature Conservation Act 1992 (NCA).

In a delayed response dated 27 July, Minister Boyle, promised that EPA officers were conducting regular spot checks on the construction site to ensure that the developers Uniton (associated with construction company Hutchinsons) were complying with the NCA. (Wildlife Queensland has been informed daily checks were made by EPA officers during the initial phase of construction to monitor potential damage to platypus burrows.)

However, the Minister also pointed out in her response that the departmental response would only be limited because she said:

• platypus were plentiful in the area
• under the NCA, Obi Obi Creek was not of major interest
• killing platypus was defensible if the action could not be 'reasonably avoided'.

Wildlife Queensland is currently running its PlatypusCare program throughout the State. PlatypusCare is a community-based program to map where platypus occur and develop a reliable snap-shot of the status of platypus populations. This information will be used to identify where conservation actions are needed throughout Queensland to protect this very special animal.

For more information about the poultry shed grant scheme and other activities, contact Wildlife Queensland by email or call +61 7 3221 0194.