The creation of a massive koala park in northern New South Wales could have substantial impacts upon Australia’s supply of timber and housing, a leading body representing forestry workers and communities has warned.

Following the NSW Government’s announcement of proposed boundaries for its promised Great Koala National Park (GKNP) along with an immediate halt to native forest harvesting within proposed park boundaries, Forest & Wood Communities Australia (FWCA) has warned that the proposed park and moratorium will have a substantial impact upon the nation’s supply of critical wood products.

It has provided the government with alternative options for a park with a smaller footprint.

In a statement, FWCA Chairperson Steve Dobbyns warns that decision could leave Australia more dependent on imported timber for its housing and infrastructure needs.

He says that timber prices spiked by an average 50 percent during the week following the announcement.

“This announcement pushes Australia deeper into dependence on imports at the very time we should be backing local, sustainable supply,” Dobbyns said.

“Every new house just became tens of thousands of dollars more expensive.”

Creating the GKNP, halting native timber harvesting

The statement came as the NSW Government earlier this month announced the proposed boundaries for its Great Koala National Park, which it promised to create as part of its 2023 state election platform.

The plan aims to reserve 176,000 hectares of state forest in Northen NSW.

These will be connected with existing national parks to create a 476,000-hectare reserve (see map).

As part of the plan, the Government has announced a temporary moratorium on timber harvesting in state forest areas which are identified to become part of the new park.

The moratorium will be place whilst the government works on legislation to create the GKNP under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974.

This means that current native harvesting operations will cease and no new operations will be allowed to commence.

The move will not affect hardwood plantations, and timber harvesting in hardwood plantations will continue.

Hardwood plantations are not a part of the assessment area and are not subject to the moratorium.

Private native forestry will still be permitted with approvals from Local Land Services.

However, harvesting within state forests will cease.

Concern about koalas

The creation of the proposed GKNP comes amid ongoing concern about the future of the koala population throughout New South Wales.

In 2020, a Legislative Council inquiry warned that without action, koalas in NSW could become extinct by 2050.

In terms of forestry, the inquiry found that logging in public native forests throughout the state has had cumulative impacts on koalas over many years by reducing the maturity, size and availability of preferred feed and root trees.

It found that the most significant threat to koala populations involved fragmentation and loss of habitat.

According to the Government, drone surveys taken last year found that the proposed park area had between 10,300 and 14,500 koalas.

An additional 66 fauna species have also been recorded in the area along with 37 threatened flora species.

As well as koalas, the government says that the GKNP will help other threatened species such as southern greater gliders, yellow-bellied gliders and glossy black cockatoos as well as spider orchids not previously recorded in any other national park estate.

The announcement also comes amid broader moves to cease native forestry harvesting across Australia.

Both Victoria and Western Australia banned native forest harvesting at the end of 2023.

Welcomed by conservation groups, slammed by industry

The decision has been welcomed by conservation groups.

Victoria Jack, NSW Campaigns Manager for the Wilderness Society, said that the move will ‘give koalas a fighting chance’.

“Conservation wins don’t get much bigger than this,” Jack said.

“This historic announcement will give koalas a fighting chance for a future.

“This is a decision backed by science, and it will deliver outcomes for both nature and the economy.”

However, Dobbyns says that the announcement will have serious implications for national timber supply.

Already, he says that Australia imported 46 percent of our solid timber needs in calendar 2024 following the closure of native timber industries in Victoria and Western Australia.

He says that NSW is one of the largest hardwood timber producing industries in Australia (accord to data from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences) and that the north coast produces 63 percent of the state’s timber along with most of the high-quality timber products.

The major commercial species are Blackbutt, Spotted Gum, Ironbark, Tallowwood, Sydney Blue Gum, Flooded Gum and Silvertop Stringybark, he says.

Products which will be impacted by the ban are many and varied. These include power poles, marine piles, bridge girders and decking, plywood and decorative flooring, kiln dried structural timber, flooring and parquetry, decking, screening/cladding, furniture, mining, fencing/posts/rails/palings, pallet, green structural, green other, panel products, household heating and some green energy products.

He says that the area which is covered by the proposed GKNP accounts for 40 percent of the sustained yield of high-quality logs in the NE NSW Region and 40 percent of the north coast production.

Drawing on data released in 2023, Dobbyns says that the timber industry across the North East NSW Region employs around 5,700 people.

That report indicates that as many as 1,600 jobs could be lost within the region on account of the new park. Additional downstream employment opportunities could be lost across Greater Sydney.

Furthermore, Dobbyns says that the creation of the new park will have little impact upon koala populations.

For one thing, he says that timber harvesting operations are highly regulated and sustainably managed and do not affect koalas.

Beyond that, he says that the CSIRO’s monitoring program shows that koala populations across the ‘northern area’ (NSW, the ACT and Qld) are widely distributed and that many koalas live across a wide range of areas which are not covered by the park.

In 2024, the CSIRO reported a population of between 95,000 and 238,000 koalas across the northern area. These are widely distributed across the area.

With only between 10,300 and 14,500 koalas living within areas which are proposed to be covered by the park, the proposed park will make little if any difference to koala populations.

In respect to the park, Dobbyns says that the forestry industry respects the Government’s election promise to create the park but says that the government has failed to do so in a manner which maintained a viable and sustainable timber industry.

He says that FWSC has presented the government with several options for a smaller park footprint.

(koala populations are widespread across NSW)

Reliance upon imports could harm the environment 

Furthermore, Dobbyns argues that the proposed park may in fact be detrimental to the environment.

This would occur as local timber is replaced by imported product which is harvested under weaker environmental protections and then needs to be shipped thousands of kilometres to reach local builders.

“It’s a bitter irony,” Dobbyns said.

“Australia is one of the most forested nations on earth, with some of the strongest environmental protections anywhere. Instead of using our resources responsibly, we’re now outsourcing supply to countries with weaker standards and higher emissions.

“With the housing crisis already biting, this latest policy could mark the end of the great Australian dream of owning a home for many Aussies.”

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