$5 million allocated for koala care in Sydney's south-west while logging of habitat continues in northern NSW

The NSW Government has allocated $4.5 million towards establishing a koala care centre in Sydney's south-west Macarthur region, along with $500,000 to support volunteer rehabilitators. However, announcements of this type of funding from the state government see longtime forest advocates and conservationists draw attention to the State Government’s ongoing logging of koala habitat in northern New South Wales.

The koala care centre will be part of the Wildlife Health and Conservation Hospital on the Camden campus of the University of Sydney's School of Veterinary Science. This facility treats the majority of koalas which come into care in the Macarthur region.

The new funding will expand the hospital's capacity to support koala rescue, rehabilitation and conservation.

The facility will also benefit wildlife rehabilitation across the region with on-call vet care and advice, and access to facilities such as pre-release enclosures, upgraded clinical equipment and biosecurity seclusion areas.

The $500,000 to support the region's dedicated wildlife rehabilitators will be available via a grant program. The funding will support volunteers to continue their invaluable work rescuing and rehabilitating koalas.

This $5 million investment complements previous commitments to safeguard the region's koalas, including habitat protection, koala friendly crossings and vehicle strike mitigation.

Although the investment will boost the availability of expert help for injured and sick koalas in the south-west region, announcements of such funding by the government attract the ire of conservationists and all those concerned about logging in koala habitats who describe continued logging of NSW koala habitat as ‘a profound tragedy’.

While the allocation of funding is commendable, conservationists have pointed to the NSW Government’s continued support of logging in the Great Koala National Park with NSW Minister for Climate Change and the Environment Penny Sharpe criticised for not doing enough to stop logging in the Park.

Last month, the NSW Government hosted 150 people at Taronga Zoo, Sydney for the 2024 Koala Summit held which was attended by a diverse range of stakeholders, including non-government organisations, government agencies, private landholders, local councils, Aboriginal representatives, academics, researchers and policy makers.

The new members of the Independent Koala Expert Panel were also in attendance.

They heard several keynote speeches from experts and practitioners dedicated to saving koalas and then had the opportunity to provide advice to help review and refocus the current NSW Koala Strategy to ensure the future of koalas in the wild.

Minister Sharpe also asked all attendees, as well as any individuals, communities or organisations not in attendance, to make a submission to the State Government’s recent Koala Strategy Discussion Paper.

The paper seeks community input into the review of the NSW Koala Strategy.

Minister Sharpe advised the Koala Summit was a key part of the process to review and refocus the NSW Koala Strategy.

However, according to Dailan Pugh from the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) “the dismay and frustration of koala advocates with the ALP’s refusal to redress the draconian policies of the National Party was palpable.

“This Government has been in power for a year and yet logging and clearing of koala habitat continues unabated, while there has been no attempt to rectify the dysfunctional changes to the State Environment Planning Policies introduced in response to the National Party declaring war on koalas in 2020.

“The biggest concern is that the summit just represents another excuse to delay taking action to provide koalas with the habitat protection they urgently need if we want to save them from extinction in the wild by 2050.”

The Summit saw the National Parks Association and World Wildlife Fund put forward a motion calling for a moratorium on logging in the proposed Great Koala National Park, and the North East Forest Alliance put forward a motion to stop logging of occupied koala habitat on State forests. Both motions achieved overwhelming support by a show of hands.

The Summit was held almost a year on from when the Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales (NCC), the state's leading environmental advocacy organisation, called for a halt to logging in the Great Koalas National Park.

Victoria and Western Australia are both ending native forest logging by 2024, while Queensland is stopping logging south of Noosa by next year. NSW is now the laggard in this space.

In 2023, the NCC released analysis showing that 17.7% of state forest that constitutes the Great Koala National Park proposal will be targeted over the next 12 months by Forestry Corporation NSW (Forestry Corp). 

NSW's 12 Month's of Operations Plan Portal shows that Forestry Corporation NSW plans to log 30,813ha (over 17%) of state forest that constitutes the Great Koala National Park (GKNP) proposal.

NCC Chief Executive Jacqui Mumford has noted “the NSW Government committed to protecting koalas by creating the Great Koala National Park, but before the assessment process even begins, Forestry Corp plans to log nearly 20% of the park. This absolutely cannot happen if we want koalas in the Great Koala National Park.”