NSW's second-largest national park created to protect koalas

After a marathon parliamentary debate, the state government has established New South Wales's second-largest national park.

The Great Koala National Park (GKNP) will take in 478,000 hectares of land between Kempsey and Grafton on the Mid North Coast, following a key promise from Labor during the 2023 state election.

It will comprise a patchwork of existing national parks and more than 178,000 hectares of state forest and Crown Land.

The legislation passed today after more than 14 hours of debate in the Legislative Council, which considered approximately 160 amendments.

NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe hailed the GKNP as a win for the environment that would protect more than 100 species of flora and fauna.

"This is a defining moment for conservation in NSW," she said in a statement.

"After more than a decade of campaigning and years of detailed assessments, consultation and planning, we have cleared the final hurdles to delivering our biggest environmental commitment.

"We are protecting extraordinary forests … while ensuring future generations can enjoy these incredible places."

For conservationist Ashley Love, the park's creation is the culmination of more than a decade of campaigning to protect koalas and their habitat along the Mid North Coast.

"We're extremely grateful that the government has decided to protect native forest," he said.

"Its nature is quite fragmented, and there are gaps and connectivity issues between sections of it, but it is a big step forward."

A long journey

Mr Love began lobbying for what would become the Great Koala National Park after hearing multiple reports from residents that koalas in the region were not as common as they once were.

"It became too much to ignore," he said.

"We proposed a reserve over the Crown land covering [the region], and that was a basis for the proposal for the Great Koala National Park."

The NSW Labor Party unsuccessfully took the proposal to the 2015 and 2019 state elections, before winning government in 2023.

Mr Love said despite the passing of the legislation, he would continue to push for more areas of the surrounding forest to be protected.

"We still have to keep working on those elements that were not included," he said.

Logging industry deflated

Key to the establishment of the park was the approval from the federal government to generate carbon credits for ending native forest logging in the park's state forest areas.

On Thursday, the federal Clean Energy Regulator announced it had registered the project, with more than 117,000 hectares designated for carbon protection.

A moratorium on logging on the proposed area of the GKNP was introduced last year, and a transition package was offered to affected workers.

Timber New South Wales president Andrew Hurford said the logging ban has had a "creeping impact" for the industry along the Mid North Coast.

"Staff have been laid off; engineering firms that provide support to those companies have no forward orders … downstream people supplying tyres, fuel, trucking, transport, engineering.

"All of those things are gradually becoming slower and quieter."

In July, state forest manager the Forestry Corporation of NSW (FCNSW) announced it would cut more than 30 jobs in Coffs Harbour related to the impacts of the GKNP.

The government said impacted FCNSW staff would be appointed to suitable roles with the National Parks and Wildlife Service.