THE Australia Institute has released a new video report critical of the NSW Government’s admission that it is delaying the protection of koala habitat in the state until a system is in place to utilise native forests for carbon offsets.

The video report’s release comes as over 100 political leaders, academics, environment and climate experts sign an open letter calling on NSW Premier Chris Minns to end all logging in public native forests and immediately gazette the proposed Great Koala National Park (GKNP) as promised.

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Signatories to the open letter include former opposition leader Dr John Hewson AM, former RBA Governor Bernie Fraser and former Australian Conservation Foundation President Geoff Cousins.

The Australia Institute is an independently-funded think tank that does not accept donations from political parties.

The video report was produced by Walkley Award-winner and former senior ABC journalist Stephen Long, Senior Fellow and Contributing Editor at the Australia Institute.

The report accuses the NSW Government of stalling on saving koalas and gazetting the touted national park in the hope of making money from the forest by selling carbon offsets to polluters.

In NSW Budget Estimates on 25 October 2023, NSW Premier Chris Minns stated, “There are many industries, many companies, governments around the world that are desperate for carbon offsets, and would be looking at jurisdictions like New South Wales in relation to that.

“I mean, you have to have the system up and running before you can quarantine a park or an area to allow for that area or that zone to be eligible for the carbon transfer.

“If you do it in reverse, then you can’t retroactively go to that national park or that forest and say this will now apply to carbon offsets in the future.”

A spokesperson from the office of the Minister for the Environment, Penny Sharpe, admitted that work to develop a GKNP did involve “an assessment of potential carbon benefits”.

“Work is underway on the process to establish the Great Koala National Park.

“$80 million is committed and reference groups are providing advice.

“The process includes thorough environmental, economic, social and Aboriginal cultural heritage assessments which were part of the election commitment.”

The journalist behind the report, Stephen Long, said the NSW Government came to power with a policy to “create a vast new national park and curtail logging”.

“It is now seeking to financialise native forests through the creation of carbon credits, delaying protection to vital koala habitats,” he said.

“Carbon credits could allow for the continuation of expansion of greenhouse gas emissions that pose an existential threat to the forests, to the koalas and to other endangered species.

“Australia Institute research has consistently identified serious issues with the integrity of carbon credits and their use as offsets.”

Mr Long said there are a “thousand good reasons” to protect koalas and forest biodiversity.

“Their value does not lie in their capacity to legitimise big polluters to continue to pollute,” he said.

Geoff Cousins, the former President of the Australian Conservation Foundation, said, “The Minns Government must see from the outcome of its Koala Summit that a powerful coalition of forces is building quickly to achieve an immediate halt to all logging in areas of native forests that may be part of the proposed Great Koala National Park, and then a complete cessation of logging in all native forests in NSW.

“The government needs to take the initiative and act to protect the habitat and food source of these endangered animals as it promised to do.

“Time has run out.”

Veteran forest campaigner Susie Russell, who features in Mr Long’s report, said, “We are coming out of an era where we haven’t been able to see the forests for the wood.

“This proposal is taking us into an era where we don’t see the forests for the carbon.

“We need to recognise that the benefits the forests provide are priceless.

“We don’t need to monetise the carbon in the forests, we just need to stop the logging.”

Virginia Young from Wilderness Australia said, “The logging industry can see the writing on the wall, and is now trying to argue that carbon credits units will make their industry more sustainable.

“We should see this for the spin it is.”

The video report, ‘The Carbon Credit Grift Destroying Koala Habitat’, can be found at https://australiainstitute.org.au.

By Andrew VIVIAN