Picture: stock
THE NSW Government has taken aim at the state Nationals Party over their lack of support for a Great Koala National Park to save the animals from extinction.
The Nationals, in turn, are claiming a serious conflict of interest by the government and want all correspondence on the project released.
The government reaction came after a press conference organised by NSW Nationals Deputy Leader and MP for Coffs Harbour, Gurmesh Singh, with MPs Richie Williamson (Clarence) and Michael Kemp (Oxley).
When reportedly asked by a journalist if they supported the park, all three MPs were said to have said no, the government says.
Environment Minister Penny Sharpe says she was immensely disappointed but not surprised by their reaction.
“If we do not take this urgent action, there is a very real possibility that our grandchildren will never get the chance to see koalas in the wild,” she says.
“(NSW Opposition and Liberal Party leader) Mark Speakman urgently needs to come clean … if the future of koalas will be on the line at the next election or have the koala wars been reignited?”
She also called on the NSW Liberal Party to publicly state if they agree with their Coalition partners and will commit to ending this project at the next election.
The park plan proposes to add 175,000ha of logged public forests in the Coffs Harbour hinterland to 140,000ha of already-protected land.
Koalas have now been officially listed as endangered as their numbers are dropping fast, especially in the wake of the 2019-20 bushfires.
The park would also protect other endangered species such as sooty and masked owls and glossy black cockatoos, according to the park’s website.
NATIONALS
The NSW Nationals in turn accused the government of serious conflicts of interest and called for the release of all correspondence.
A party statement claimed that a firm tasked by the National Parks and Wildlife Service to assess the park’s impact on timber jobs had been contracted by another party for advice on ending the timber industry.
Nationals Leader Dugald Saunders said that “the government was seeking a political outcome here rather than an environmental one”.
The Shadow Minister for the North Coast, Singh said the timber industry is worried.
“This situation shows the government is trying to achieve a political outcome here rather than an environmental one,” he claimed.
Williamson says thousands of jobs are at risk.
“The hardwood industry is the backbone of the North Coast, supporting more than 5000 families, who can’t afford to let a skewed system take away their livelihoods,” he says.
“On top of that we need to consider the impact the Great Koala National Park will have on the state’s crucial timber supply and the economic fallout for local sawmills and producers.
“No timber means no paper, no power poles and no construction materials to build the homes we are desperate for in the middle of a housing shortage crisis.”
Kemp says that the government needs to provide clarity.
