The proposed creation of a massive new national park on the NSW Mid North Coast has once again brought into sharp focus the apparent difficulty of balancing the ever-more-pressing need to protect natural flora and fauna with the need to protect local economies.
The NSW Government has just announced the proposed boundary for the Great Koala National Park, and declared an immediate temporary moratorium on timber harvesting within the proposed boundary.
As well as earmarking an additional $60 million to establish the park, the state’s Labor Government has announced a worker and industry support package, and says it will offer $6m in community and small business supports for the mid-north coast region.
The NSW Government says that, without action, koalas could be extinct in the state by 2050. PIC: Holgi / Pixabay
However, the NSW Nationals says the new park will obliterate the North Coast timber industry, directly impacting up to 5500 regional jobs, and creating severe shortages across NSW. It says it will also further exacerbate the housing crisis, wiping out 40% of the state’s future hardwood supply and forcing the price of construction materials through the roof.
The park will reserve 176,000 hectares of state forest and connect with existing national parks to create a 476,000-hectare reserve of protected areas encompassing over 475,000 hectares from Kempsey to Grafton and inland to Ebor – one of the largest in NSW.
The NSW Government says that, without action, koalas are on track to be extinct in the wild in the state by 2050. It says the Great Koala National Park will protect more than 12,000 koalas, 36,000 Greater Gliders and habitat for over 100 other threatened species.
It also hopes the new park will bring more tourists to the area.
The Government says the $6 million will support new opportunities for tourism and small businesses on the Mid North Coast, with the package to be developed in consultation with local communities to grow jobs and investment as the Great Koala National Park is established.
NSW Premier, Chris Minns, was in the Coffs Harbour area to make the announcement.
“Koalas are at risk of extinction in the wild in NSW – that’s unthinkable … the Great Koala National Park is about turning that around,” he said. “We’ve listened carefully and we’re making sure workers, businesses and communities are supported every step of the way.”
However, NSW Nationals Leader Dugald Saunders said the decision will have a cascading effect that will cripple multiple sectors.
“The Minns Labor Government made an election promise to deliver the Great Koala National Park while protecting the jobs of timber workers at the same time, but that was a straight out lie,” Mr Saunders said. “This will be a crushing blow for hard-working families, businesses and entire regional towns who will have their livelihoods wiped out overnight, while setting off a chain reaction through other industries including building, mining and energy.”
The final creation of the park is dependent on the successful registration of a carbon project under the Improved Native Forest Management Method, which is currently moving through the Federal Government assessment processes.
Click here for more information on the proposed park.
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Apparently 10 years in the making and they still couldn’t work out the implications to all the people who have worked in the timber industry all there lives.
They have been logging sustainably for many years and have more forethought than any of the bureaucrats or jobless people that impose these senseless decisions.
Long live the koala!
I agree with the national park. But why don’t we have a renewable forest already started. There have been these forests in Europe for hundreds of years. Invest in and have an ongoing timber industry. We can grow forests but cannot replace our wildlife.
Here we go again one more big parcel of land locked up with no additional staff to manage it. I agree that we need to protect our wildlife but without providing staff management on the ground you could loose more animals to devastating fires as happened in 2019 / 2020.
Yes, I agree the park needs to be established to protect the koalas. Sustainable hardwood forest logging is definitely achievable. The Tasmanian forest industry has been doing this for years. It just needs financial and suitability qualified staff to support the industry. Really this is a win win scenario.
Absolutely. As one of our national icons at serious risk of extinction, Koalas must be protected.
Yes, we should look after our wildlife.
This can’t be allowed to proceed. The state forests are for NSW residents, have a good look at the breakdown of NP’s and SF’s and you will find ample NP’s and already locked up SF’s. This is going to be used to sell carbon credits the devil is in the detail and we need to protest against this.