Legislation to establish the Great Koala National Park (GKNP) was formally tabled in NSW Parliament this afternoon, following a decade-long community campaign.
Introducing the bill in the lower house, Labor MP Trish Doyle said the GKNP will be a “landmark addition to the national park estate and a lasting investment in the environmental, cultural, and economic future of the Mid North Coast and NSW”.
What happened: NSW Labor introduced the bill on Tuesday, which seeks to transfer more than 178,000 hectares of state forest and Crown land to the national park estate, for the purpose of creating the GKNP.
The total size of the GKNP will be more than 475,000 hectares, and will provide habitat for an estimated 12,000 koalas, 36,000 gliders and more than 100 threatened species.
Land uses: The bill introduces different reserve categories across the park, allowing for a range of recreational activities.
While much of the park will be set aside for conservation, thirteen percent of the added land will be designated as “regional park”, allowing for “intensive recreation” activities such as camping, horse riding, four-wheel driving and fishing.
Dog walking will be allowed in select reserves.
Environment minister Penny Sharpe would also be allowed to approve motor racing events on existing roads in regional parks within the GKNP.
Retraining opportunity: With a ban on logging within the park’s boundaries forcing job losses within the Forestry Corporation of NSW, the bill includes a provision enabling staff to be appointed to suitable roles within the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Call for support: Clancy Barnard, from the Nature Conservation Council NSW, said the park’s progress is “something people across the political spectrum can celebrate”, encouraging the state’s politicians to back the legislation.
“For those of us living on the Mid North Coast, it’s particularly exciting to see more than $140 million in new funding flowing into our region, supporting conservation, restoration, park management and local jobs.”
What next: The bill must pass through both the lower and upper houses of NSW parliament before it can become law. Lower house debate is expected to continue this week.
The final creation of the park is also conditional on the Clean Energy Regulator registering a carbon carbon trading scheme, which would enable companies to offset their emissions by purchasing carbon credits from the GKNP.