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Environment Queensland has welcomed comments from LNP leader David Crisafulli about the need for more protected areas for koalas and other threatened species.

In the final debate of the campaign, Crisafulli and Prime Minister Stephen Miles were asked by a local wildlife activist how they were going to protect koalas “without bowing to developers”.

Crisafulli was the first to react, telling the crowd: “We have to identify areas that are worth protecting and we have to protect them… so that the koala population has a critical mass to survive.”

“The best way to do this is to work in partnership with private landowners to create protected areas that also benefit that landowner,” he said.

Queensland Conservation Council campaigner Nicky Moffatt called private protected areas a “critical piece of the puzzle” but said the LNP had not yet said how much it was willing to spend.

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“These landowners need incentives and funding to protect, restore and maintain the native forests and bushland on their property, and that’s where government funding comes in,” Moffatt said.

The LNP is expected to publish its policy spending tomorrow.

In 2022, the status of koalas was changed from vulnerable to critically endangered in Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT.

The species in the south-east Queensland bioregion could be upgraded to “threatened” status, according to research from the Australian Koala Foundation.