In response to public outrage, Premier Chris Minns and Environment Minister Penny Sharpe today announced that 5% of the proposed great koala national park would be protected from logging. What’s the scam?
The scam is that this is a mere 8400 hectares of the 175,000 to be spared while “government consults with experts about plans to establish the park.”
Others suggest it is better than nothing, with Sophie Scamps, MP, saying in a statement today that “the news that logging in “koala hubs” will cease is a win for koalas and all other species that call these forests home, for the local tourism industry and for local Indigenous communities who have campaigned strongly against the destruction of this crucial habitat.”
According to Sue Arnold of Australians for Animals, only a small number of forests identified as koala hubs are spared. But Oakes/Kalang forests will get the chop. Logging begins on Friday, say local sources.
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There were 106 koala hubs identified in 2017 as having evidence of hi density populations, which make up the 5% of the park which thegovernment have designated as not to be logged. Conservation groups say 20% of the state’s koala population is within the park area, making 5% protection a token effort.
An estimated 30% of koalas on the mid-north coast died in the Black Summer bushfires, up to 30% of their habitat destroyed. No population surveys have been undertaken since the fires. Connectivity, the fate of significant biodiversity which shares the same ecosystem, is ignored.
Conservationists battling Forestry Corporation say the protected hectares are nowhere near enough, will not prevent extinction, and that logging needs to stop throughout the whole Park immediately. To add insult to injury, “Logging native forests in NSW is a loss-making exercise. Over the last two years, the NSW Government has subsidised the native forest logging division of NSW Forestry Corporation to the tune of $30 million just to keep it afloat,” according to Sophie Scamps.
Kim Wingerei is a businessman turned writer and commentator. He is passionate about free speech, human rights, democracy and the politics of change. Originally from Norway, Kim has lived in Australia for 30 years. Author of ‘Why Democracy is Broken – A Blueprint for Change’.