A New Koala National Park Could Protect Forests in New South Wales — But a Political Fight May Stop It

A plan to create a giant koala national park in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, is caught in a political fight. The park would protect more than 476,000 hectares of forest — an area more than twice the size of Canberra. It would give safe habitat to about 12,000 koalas, along with gliders, glossy black cockatoos, and over a hundred other threatened species. But a small political party called the Greens may vote to block the plan in the Senate next month. The reason comes down to a disagreement about a type of pollution permit called a carbon credit.

The idea for a great koala national park near Coffs Harbour, in northern NSW, has been around for many years. Local campaigners and First Nations leaders have pushed for these forests to be protected from logging for a long time. In September 2025, the NSW government announced it would add 176,000 hectares of state forest to existing protected areas to make the reserve official. The final piece came in June 2025, when the national government approved a plan for NSW to earn money from the park through carbon credits.

Carbon credits are permits that each represent one tonne of greenhouse gases kept out of the atmosphere. Companies that produce pollution can buy these credits and count them against their own emissions. The idea is to give forests a financial value so they are protected rather than logged. The koala park plan would create credits worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Many environmental groups are unhappy with using carbon credits to fund the park. Scientific studies have found that many credits do not represent real cuts to pollution. Former Greens leaders Bob Brown and Christine Milne are among those who have spoken out strongly against the plan. They argue that big polluting companies, including those in the fossil fuel industry, should not be able to use cheap credits to avoid making real changes to how they operate.

There is also a technical argument about whether the koala park credits are fair. Under the rules, credits can only be given for actions that go beyond what would have happened anyway — this is called being 'additional.' Critics say that because NSW Labor promised to create the park back in 2015, the forests were always going to be protected, so the credits do not count as extra action. They believe taxpayers, not carbon credits, should pay to wind down the native logging industry.

However, many forest campaigners, First Nations groups, and scientists say the plan is still worth supporting. They point out that the proposal does more than just protect the koala park — it also sets a legal cap on logging across NSW's public and private native forests, keeping it well below average levels from the past decade. Some experts believe this cap could speed up the end of native forest logging across the whole state. That would be a major win for conservation.

Supporters also say the number of credits produced by this plan would be very small — less than 1% of all the credits issued in Australia each year. That means blocking this plan would not solve the bigger problem of companies buying too many cheap credits. If that fight is going to be won, it will have to happen in a different way. The native forest method alone is not what decides whether big polluters keep getting access to cheap credits.

The Greens delayed their Senate vote until next month while they try to agree on a position inside the party. Some members worry that voting against the park would mean standing alongside the Nationals and the logging industry. NSW Greens MP Sue Higginson has warned that if the carbon credits plan is rejected, things could get 'worse, not better' for these forests. Many local campaigners who have spent years fighting for this park are watching the Greens closely.

Labor and the Greens are still talking about a possible compromise. One idea is to pass a law saying that forest credits can only be sold to industries not involved in fossil fuel production. That would stop the biggest polluters from using the credits to avoid cutting their own emissions. The NSW government has said it supports this idea, though the details are not yet clear.

The outcome of this debate matters a great deal for Australia's environment. The forests near Coffs Harbour are home to rare animals and important water catchments that supply clean drinking water. Whatever the Greens decide, their vote will shape both the future of these forests and their own reputation as a party that stands up for nature. For the koalas and hundreds of other species living in these forests, the stakes could not be higher.