The Bob Brown Foundation has refused to follow CSIRO science on koala numbers — which now puts up to one million koalas in Australian forests — continuing to insist the species is “on the brink of extinction” despite ABC NSW Country Hour’s David Claughton putting the data directly to the organisation’s campaign manager.
Speaking to ABC Country Hour, days before the Bob Brown Foundation was involved in thirteen protests across Australia calling for the end of native forestry, Jenny Weber was unaware of the latest research, which reveals no meaningful difference in numbers between managed forests and national parks.
She did not address it when pressed; instead, she pointed to specific forests she argued were being stripped of habitat: “Nationally important koala habitat is being logged from Bulga State Forest, north of Newcastle, to Cherry State Forest, inland of Lismore,” she said. “These are nationally important species similar to the Greater Gliders. We know that species are losing their habitat due to logging.”
Weber also disputed that selective harvesting is occurring, calling the NSW Forestry Corporation a criminal organisation being propped up by the state. She argued logging is making bushfires more severe, exacerbating climate heating and removing critical wildlife habitat.
The protests themselves have drawn unexpected criticism. Tim Cadman, an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at Griffith University, declined to support the March for Forests on Friday, arguing the organising groups hold an indefensible position on plantation logging. “They support the logging of koala habitat in plantations,” Cadman said. “It’s hypocritical.”
It comes as Alison Rudman, NSW secretary of the Transport, Forestry and Trades Union, joined AWU delegates, forest scientists and industry representatives at a roundtable inside NSW Parliament House, where she called on the Minns government to lock in wood supply agreements and end the instability plaguing the industry.
“What we need to be clear on is that there can be sustainable native forestry and there can be koalas and there can be good jobs,” Rudman said. “That is the policy setting we need. Not this back and forth from people who don’t do the work.”
To learn more about the CSIRO koala monitoring program, which now calculates that koala populations along Australia’s eastern seaboard now stand at between 729,000 and 918,000, click here for Wood Central’s exclusive from October 2025.
