Koala advocates and logging supporters have seized on the release of data showing koala population estimates tripled in the last three years. The CSIRO developed the National Koala Monitoring Program in collaboration with 50 partners, including states and universities. In 2023, when the first estimate was released, between 287,830 and 628,010 koalas were believed to live in Australia. Now CSIRO scientists estimate the population could number from 729,000 to 918,000. …Among those highlighting the data is the MP for the New South Wales Mid North Coast seat of Oxley, Michael Kemp, who says the public has been “misled for decades over koala numbers”. …But Australian Koala Foundation chair Deborah Tabart said the CSIRO figures were “categorically wrong” and that field studies indicated that the national koala population was much smaller. …University of Sydney biologist Mathew Crowther said the “big jump in numbers” could be attributed to “more surveys and better techniques”.