The New South Wales koala is on course for extinction by 2050. Their numbers have been rapidly declining because of habitat loss from mass deforestation including logging for low value woodchip. The devastating Black Summer bushfires killed at least 5,000 koalas and burned 28 percent of their habitat in the north and 21 percent in the south. Urgent action is needed to protect what is left and the government has committed to establishing the Great Koala National Park – something I have campaigned for since its inception.

While the government is consulting on the boundaries for the national park, the Forestry Corporation is moving into regions expected for protection to extract as much timber as possible. I have heard reports of regions that have been decimated. If this continues to happen, there will be no koala habitat left to protect. 

I joined the progressive cross bench to call on the government to declare the Great Koala National Park as a matter of urgency and bring an end to all logging within the park boundaries immediately.

See > HERE.