Australia Institute exposes why and how NSW Government is stalling on saving koalas

A new video report from The Australia Institute - a public policy think tank based in Canberra - exposes how the NSW Government is stalling on saving koalas and gazetting the national park in hope of making money from the forest by selling carbon offsets to polluters.

The video report has been produced by Walkley Award-winner and former senior ABC journalist Stephen Long, Senior Fellow and Contributing Editor at the Australia Institute.

In 2015, the NSW opposition leader, Luke Foley, promised to create Australia’s first koala national park on the state’s mid north coast, covering an area of more than 300,000 hectares.

Foley said at the time that his party had a clear plan to protect koalas.

Labor said it would work with the Wilderness Society to help nature conservation in NSW.

The Great Koala National Park proposal would take in 315,000 hectares (778,050 acres) of hinterland forest between Macksville and Woolgoolga, north of Coffs Harbour, combining 176,000 hectares of state forest with 140,000 hectares of existing protected areas.

The park would provide a lifeline to the population of about 4,500 koalas that live in the region.

In March 2024, the NSW Government, is still advising of their commitment to creating a Great Koala National Park on the mid north coast, and is undergoing the “process of establishing the park” which will involve three key components:

An independent economic and social assessment to consider the impacts on local jobs and communities

The establishment of industry, community and Aboriginal advisory panels to provide input to the assessment process and creation of the park

Expert environmental and cultural heritage assessments to safeguard the region’s unique environmental and cultural heritage and ensure the Great Koala National Park aligns with the highest standards of environmental protection and respect for cultural heritage.

 The 2023–24 NSW State Budget committed $80 million in funding over four years to support the development of the park.

The Australia Institute note “officially, the state government cites consultation with stakeholders as the reason for the delay. Last year, NSW Premier Chris Minns' remarkable admission disclosed a further motive for the go-slow: the government is reluctant to create the new national park or end logging and land clearing that is destroying koala habitat until it secures another way to make money from the trees.

“In essence, it wants to exploit the forests for carbon credits.”

In the video, the Institute talks to people fighting to save the native forests, and peel back the curtains on why the koala habitat on the mid-north coast is still being logged.

The video report's release comes as over 100 political leaders, academics, environment and climate experts sign an open letter calling on NSW Premier Chris Minns to end all logging in public native forests and immediately gazette the proposed Great Koala National Park as promised.

Signatories to the open letter include Dr John Hewson AM, Former Leader of the Opposition, Bernie Fraser, Former Governor of the Reserve Bank and Geoff Cousins, Former President of the Australian Conservation Foundation.

A broad coalition have signed an open letter calling on the NSW Government to:

• cease all logging in public native forest and koala habitat

• gazette the boundaries of the proposed Great Koala National Park, as promised

• abandon plans to develop carbon offsets associated with NSW forests

Australia Institute Research shows seven in ten Australians (69%) support an end to native forest logging, including 70% of NSW voters.

Long notes "The NSW Government came to power with a policy to create a vast new national park and curtail logging. It is now seeking to financialise native forests through the creation of carbon credits, delaying protection to vital koala habitats.

"Carbon credits could allow for the continuation of expansion of greenhouse gas emissions that pose an existential threat to the forests, to the koalas and to other endangered species.

"Australia Institute research has consistently identified serious issues with the integrity of carbon credits and their use as offsets.

"There are a thousand good reasons to protect koalas and forest biodiversity. Their value does not lie in their capacity to legitimise big polluters to continue to pollute."

Geoff Cousins, Former President of the Australian Conservation Foundation adds "The Minns Government must see from the outcome of its Koala Summit that a powerful coalition of forces is building quickly to achieve an immediate halt to all logging in areas of native forests that may be part of the proposed Great Koala National Park, and then a complete cessation of logging in all native forests in NSW. More announcements will come shortly regarding this coalition.

"The government needs to take the initiative and act to protect the habitat and food source of these endangered animals as it promised to do. Time has run out."

Veteran forests campaigner Susie Russell, who features in Long's report adds "we are coming out of an era where we haven't been able to see the forests for the wood. This proposal is taking us into an era where we don't see the forests for the carbon.

"We need to recognise that the benefits the forests provide are priceless. We don't need to monetise the carbon in the forests, we just need to stop the logging."

Virginia Young from Wilderness Australia advised "the logging industry can see the writing on the wall, and is now trying to argue that carbon credits units will make their industry more sustainable. We should see this for the spin it is.”

Watch Below: The Carbon Credit Grift Destroying Koala Habitat