Community rallies against accelerated logging in Great Koala National Park
Community members have rallied at the NSW Forestry Corporation’s offices in Coffs Harbour and Sydney this morning as a new report has revealed that logging in the Great Koala National Park has accelerated by 62% since the Minns Labor Government was elected on a platform to protect those forests. Greens MP Sue Higginson and Senator Sarah Hanson-Young attended the rally in Coffs Harbour before visiting a nearby logged forest that was part of the assessment area for the new National Park.
The North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) assessment ‘Accelerating Logging Within the Great Koala National Park’ identifies the net areas of native forest in the Great Koala National Park logged as:
- 20,630 ha logged in 98 months since ALP’s 2015 commitment to protect the Great Koala National Park up until the March 2023 election
- 7,185 ha logged in 21 months since the election of the Minns Government in 2023
Greens MP and spokesperson for the environment Sue Higginson said “The increased logging of the promised Great Koala National Park is setting these forests and koalas back decades, and is a complete betrayal and political failure by the Minns Labor Government,”
“This report from NEFA reveals that 8.4% for the loggable area within the Great Koala National Park has been destroyed in just 21 months despite election promises from Premier Chris Minns that these forests would be protected,”
“The former Coalition Government was logging the Great Koala National Park at a rate of 211 hectares monthly, this has jumped by an astonishing 62% under the Minns Labor Government and is destroying critical koala habitat at a rate of 342 hectares every month,”
“The Forestry Corporation has refused to release their own data on just how much koala habitat they have logged in the promised park. The Minns Labor Government is providing cover for this rogue State Owned Corporation which cost taxpayers $29 million in losses over the last financial year logging our native forests. Every day that the park is not announced and that the logging continues is another failure and another betrayal,”
“Logging must end in the native forests of the Great Koala National Park today. We have waited 21 months for this Government to keep its promise, but instead everyday we have seen more koala habitat cut down. We aren’t waiting any longer,”