Plans to expand Ormiston College’s campus were approved in May 2026 following a state planning process that drew hundreds of public submissions and resulted in koala habitat conditions being attached to the approval.
Read: Hundreds of Koala Trees to Go in Ormiston as College Pursues Expansion
Deputy Premier and Planning Minister Jarrod Bleijie approved the proposal through a Ministerial Infrastructure Designation (MID), with the decision expected to be gazetted by late May 2026. The land affected, at the corner of Dundas and Delancey streets in Ormiston, sits within a mapped Priority Koala Assessable Development Area under the Planning Regulation 2017.
Redland City had rejected a similar development application from the school in 2021. The college then submitted revised plans directly to the state in April 2025, triggering the MID process.
The Habitat in Question
The site includes areas classified as High Value Bushland and High Value Other Habitat under the Redland City Plan. Citizen scientists have recorded 23 koala sightings on the block over the past year, with many more recorded within a one-kilometre radius.
A petition submitted to Queensland Parliament noted that community and citizen science records, including sightings through Redland City’s Koala Watch program, indicate regular koala activity in and around the site.
The petition also stated that the expansion would require clearing 652 mature trees within the designated habitat area, and raised concerns that the proposal had not been referred to the Commonwealth for assessment under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, despite potential implications for matters of national environmental significance.
The ecological report submitted with the school’s plans stated that roughly a third of the koala habitat on the site would need to be cleared, describing the affected areas as those where koala activity had been recorded at low, transitory levels only.
Conditions of Approval
Deputy Premier Bleijie said he approved the project on the recommendation of the Department of State Development.
Conditions attached to the approval require the college to retain mature vegetation unless its removal is necessary for the development, or unless a qualified person confirms the trees pose an unacceptable safety risk. A defined area of protected vegetation cannot be cleared except for bushfire or weed and pest management purposes.
In response to public submissions raising concern about koala habitat and feed stock, the Department of State Development said the partial clearing and replanting approach was intended to enhance the site’s ecological value over time, including through the removal of invasive species. It acknowledged short-term disturbance to koala habitat and noted that mitigation measures would apply during the transition period.
The MID process received hundreds of public submissions, the majority of which opposed the expansion.
The College’s Position
The school’s master plan states that revegetation has been strategically placed to strengthen the koala corridor, and that only low-risk, least-concern vegetation types will be cleared, with no threatened species found.
Principal Michael Hornby said at the time of the decision that initial works, including some clearing, would begin within weeks. He said the clearing would be selective and staged, conducted in accordance with an approved fauna management process that includes pre-clearing ecological inspections and supervision by licensed fauna spotter-catchers.
Read: Koala Habitat at Centre of Ormiston College Expansion Dispute
Mr Hornby said the college understood that people felt strongly about the issue and confirmed the school would plant more than 500 koala-preferred trees on the campus as part of the project.
Featured image credit: ormistoncollege.com.au
Published 25-May-2026
