"White hot pain and anger": Logging around potential Great Koala National Park continues while boundaries still not set

Thousands of hectares of land that could make up the Great Koala National Park (GKNP) continues to be logged, according to a recent report by Wilderness Australia and the National Parks Association of NSW, with further tree-felling expected over the next six months. The NSW government has so-far delayed an announcement on the boundaries of the park.

NSW Greens MP Sue Higginson called the delay – and continued logging – “one of the greatest disappointments over the last two years.”

“This disappointment has turned into white hot pain and anger because of the delay and how extensive the logging has been, and that more is planned over the next six months,” Higginson said in a statement on Wednesday.

“This will go down as one of the biggest environmental political failures of our time.”

The Great Koala National Park was first announced in 2023 by the NSW Labor government. It was an ambitious project that aimed to connect 140,000 hectares of existing national parks with about 170,000 hectares of state forest and protect the area from logging in a bid to save the endangered koala species. But it has now been two years since the initial announcement, and without boundaries being set trees are still able to be felled. 

In January 2023, then-opposition leader Chris Minns announced NSW Labor would re-commit to establishing the GKNP if elected. Labor had promised the park in the previous two elections and even mentioned the plan for a GKNP back in 2015.

Tree felling continues as wildlife protectors call foul

In the report, Wilderness Australia and the National Parks Association of NSW alleges the tree-felling taking place in areas being assessed for the GKNP is now on track to reach 12.5 thousand hectares since the Minns Government was elected in 2023.

The report states 1,924 hectares of logging is happening right now within the Great Koala National Park assessment area and another 3,469 hectares of forest is scheduled for logging within the next six months.

“Premier Chris Minns has promised to protect the koalas of NSW from extinction, but right now he is effectively killing koalas with logging,” Higginson said.

“The idea that he will announce the Great Koala National Park after the Forestry Corporation has smashed and grabbed so much koala habitat first is heinous.

 Balancing environmental protection with industry support

A Forestry Corporation of NSW spokesperson said 12,000 hectares in the assessment area's most critical habitat hubs had been protected, but timber production was among the multiple uses for state forests.

"Forestry Corporation has an obligation to continue supplying critical timber resources ... and supplying an industry that employs thousands of people in regional NSW," said the spokesperson.

Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) Secretary Tony Callinan said the union had no issue with the delay.

"We appreciate the fact that the government is taking its time to get input from all the stakeholders," Callinan told AAP.

"We can have sufficient forestry area for koalas to prosper and we can have a viable, responsible timber industry."

WWF Australia conservation scientist Stuart Blanch called for the government to stop logging in the area and pay timber workers to stand down until the national park was decided. But AWU’s Callinan said that would cause uncertainty for timber workers and waste taxpayer money.

Advocates for the park are fighting for 176,000 hectares to be protected, while the timber industry would prefer only 37,000 hectares be spared of logging, with openness to potentially 58,000 hectares.

The government is yet to announce how big the park will be.

“The delay has caused so much anger and confusion, with renewed fear that the park will now be further delayed until after the federal election,” Higginson said.

“We have been told ‘soon’, as we have to witness the destruction for months and months, it is just not good enough.”