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“We were promised a world-class national park. That’s been reiterated many times since. We just want that to be done and the degradation to stop.”

Conservationists have become frustrated by the time it is taking the Minns government to fulfil its election promise, finalise an assessment of the area and declare the park’s boundaries, given during the assessment period.

The government has examined at least 176,000 hectares of state forest for possible inclusion in the new national park as well as the potential impact on the forestry industry and the support that may be necessary for affected workers.

A statement released by more than 20 environmental organisations on Friday accused the government of delaying a cabinet decision about the park’s boundaries, which they said had been expected by the end of last year.

“Far from protecting the GKNP, they are accelerating its degradation,” they said.

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The NSW agriculture minister, Tara Moriarty, said “the claims in the report are not true” and the government was “getting on with delivering a Great Koala national park while at the same time ensuring a sustainable timber industry”.

“The creation of a Great Koala national park was one of our key election commitments and we will deliver it. The assessment process is nearing conclusion,” she said.

A spokesperson for the NSW Forestry Corporation said the agency disputed the figures and “there has been no increase in timber harvesting in the area subject to assessment for the GKNP”.

“The total area of native forest harvested each year has not increased and is the same as it was in 2019 and the average monthly volume of timber harvested from March 2023 to November 2024 is 15% lower than the average monthly volume harvested from the same area over the 10 years prior,” they said.

Source: www.theguardian.com