Australia’s first koala national park to go ahead in NSW
“The Government has imposed a temporary moratorium effective Monday 8 September 2025 on timber harvesting within the proposed park boundary,” confirmed a statement issued yesterday from the office of the NSW Premier, Chris Minns.
As well as the moratorium, the statement confirmed the proposed boundary for the GKNP and announced “a comprehensive worker and industry support package” to cater for anticipated forestry job losses, “$6m in community and small business supports for the mid north coast region”, and “an additional $60 million to establish the park”.
A lengthy battle
Conservationists have been campaigning for decades to protect key koala habitat near Coffs Harbour on New South Wales’ Mid North Coast from logging.
Their actions led to the idea – first floated about 10 years ago – of creating a national park dedicated to the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus).
Efforts to secure the park accelerated following the 2019-20 Black Summer fires, which tragically saw thousands of koalas killed along Australia’s East Coast, eliciting global heartache and concern for the species’ future.
Efforts were stepped up even further after the koala – one of Australia’s most recognised species internationally – was officially declared endangered in February 2022.
Yesterday’s announcement from the NSW Government sees $146 million to be set aside for creation of the GKNP from 1760sq.km of state forest, as well as the immediate cessation of logging in the area.
The new park will connect with existing national parks to create a 476,000ha reserve – one of the largest in NSW.
The move is expected to protect about one-fifth of NSW’s remaining koala population, in the Clarence Valley, Coffs Harbour, Bellingen Shire, Nambucca Valley and Kempsey Shire local government areas.
“Koalas are at risk of extinction in the wild in NSW – that’s unthinkable,” Mr Minns said. “The Great Koala National Park is about turning that around.”
“We’ve listened carefully and we’re making sure workers, businesses and communities are supported every step of the way.”
NSW environment minister, Penny Sharpe, added that the GKNP “will ensure koalas survive into the future so our grandchildren will still be able to see them in the wild”.
“These amazing old-growth forests are among the world’s top biodiversity hotspots – home to more than 100 threatened species including greater gliders, the powerful owl and yellow-bellied gliders,” she said.
Conservation jubilation
The announcement has been roundly applauded as a significant win for the environment movement with a string of supportive statements coming in response from key conservation organisations and ecologists who have long been lobbying for the creation of the park.
The move was “strongly welcomed” by the Forest Alliance NSW. “This park will ensure future generations will be able to see koalas, greater gliders and other threatened species in the wild for many years to come,” said Gary Dunnett from the National Parks Association, a member of the alliance.
“The permanent protection of this magnificent area will also safeguard critical water catchments for the people of the Coffs Coast, protect sacred Indigenous sites and open up huge economic opportunities for regional green tourism.
“It is truly a win-win for the people of NSW and nature.”
The GKNP will not only protect koalas, but also other threatened species including (left-right) the Southern greater glider (Petauroides volans), powerful owl (Ninox strenua), spotted-tailed quoll (Dasyurus maculatus), squirrel glider (Petaurus norfolcensis), pouched frog (Assa darlingtoni), sooty owl (Tyto tenebricosa), rufous scrub bird (Atrichornis rufescens), and rufous bettong (Aepyprymnus rufescens). Images supplied by NSW Government
And the accolades kept coming.
“Conservation outcomes don’t get much bigger than this,” said Victoria Jack from the Wilderness Society. “This historic announcement will give koalas a fighting chance for a future.”
Jacqui Mumford, CEO of the Nature Conservation Council NSW said, “The conservation and economic values of this park have always been apparent and we welcome a science- and evidence-based decision to deliver the park in full.”
Greens MP and spokesperson for the environment Sue Higginson said her party was “jubilant” about the announcement and that “176,000 hectares of our public native forests on the Mid North Coast are finally off the logging schedule”.
“This victory belongs to the communities, First Nations leaders, scientists and forest defenders who never gave up,” Ms Higginson said.
Wilderness Australia’s Andrew Wong described the announcement as “the most significant outcome” for NSW forest conservation in a quarter of a century.
“This is an extraordinary first step towards protecting our native forests,“ he said. “With other critical areas still being logged in other parts of the state, logically there will be more major outcomes to follow.”
“This protects an estimated 12,000 koalas and enables their populations to recover as their feed trees regrow,” said the North East Forest Alliance’s Dailan Pugh. “This is the sort of action we need if we want to double their population in NSW.”
More to be done
Comments were, of course, tempered with statements that there is still much work to be done to protect the koala and its habitat.
Scott Daines, spokesperson for South East Forest Rescue, noted that the protection being afforded by the creation of the new GKNP in northern NSW “stands in contrast to the ongoing destruction of native forests on the NSW South Coast, where the majority of logged native trees are wood chipped for export and where the state-owned logging company has a terrible record of illegal logging, copping fines of over $2 million since 2020.”
