Member for Oxley Michael Kemp, Member for Coffs Harbour Gurmesh Singh, and Member for Clarence Richie Williamson – all Nationals MPs – formally declared their opposition to the park in December, in line with their party’s position.

Advertise with News of The Area today.
It’s worth it for your business.
Message us.
Phone us – (02) 4981 8882.
Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au

Mr Kemp has already shared his interpretation of the science behind the park’s creation.

“NSW koala numbers are stronger than activists would have us believe, and sustainable forestry provides much-needed habitat support while mitigating the dangers posed by fire,” he said.

He cites the work of Dr Bradley Law, the NSW Government’s Principal Research Scientist in the Forest Science Unit of the Department of Primary Industries.

Mr Kemp said that Dr Law’s findings “challenge decades of political ideology and prove that sustainable forestry and koala conservation can co-exist”.

“This research finally gives us the facts: sustainable forestry is not the enemy of koalas, urban encroachment, extreme fire and disease is,” he said.

Dr Law’s research, which involved surveying over 220 sites, indicates that 60-70 percent of these locations were populated by koalas, far exceeding previous assumptions about koala numbers in forestry areas.

The research has been interpreted as showing that the koalas were unaffected by Forestry timber harvesting.

The study involved more than 14,500 hours of audio recorded over three years to measure the bellows of male koalas.

“SongMeter” devices were installed at 171 sites in the north-east, in many State Forests, National Parks and reserves.

“Koalas are surprisingly difficult to detect. They are cryptic animals, especially in tall forests, yet their bellows echo through the forest at night during the spring mating season, making this new survey method particularly effective,” Dr Law said in the report, which was released in May 2024.

However, a report published in 2023 by Andrew Smith and John Pile, also based on a study of koala numbers and their response to logging, directly challenges Dr Law’s methods and earlier findings.

It indicates that male and female koalas are distributed quite differently within forest habitats.

The researchers argue that koala habitat modelling, mapping and impact assessment based solely on the monitoring of male koala calls, without additional consideration of female distribution and abundance, produces erroneous results that are misleading and unsuitable for koala conservation and management.

Mr Kemp believes that Labor’s recent drone survey backs up Dr Laws’ research however, as it identified over 12,000 koalas living within the assessment area of the Great Koala National Park.

“It’s time they conduct similar surveys in National Parks to definitively prove whether responsible, sustainable forestry impacts koala populations at all.”

“Eighty-eight percent of our forested land in NSW is already unable to be harvested due to being held by National Park or protected for riparian, flora, or fauna regulations.

“We need to increase the size of State Forests as they are much better at managing land and much cheaper per hectare.”

By Andrew VIVIAN