A new push by the NSW Greens to extend the proposed Great Koala National Park into 16,000 hectares of mature hardwood plantations — or “regrown native forest” — in Pine Creek, Orara East and Tuckers Nob State Forests is “breathtaking hypocrisy,” according to Steve Dobbyns, Chair of Forest and Wood Communities Australia, who spoke to Wood Central today. The push comes as Greens MP Sue Higginson warned that seven major areas and three high‑value forest areas have been excluded from the latest park maps.
“Environmental groups have long told Australians that plantations would replace native forests. Now, just as these trees are ready to supply homes, these same groups are pushing to lock them away,” Dobbyns said. “We’ve seen this before with previous Labor Government decisions 25 years ago, when plantations were captured in National Parks, like Bongil Bongil National Park, despite assurances. We cannot afford a repeat.”
“The best time to plant was 50-60 years ago; the second-best time is today”
Dobbyns said the state is already facing a significant supply shortfall.After the NSW Government removed 176,000 hectares of native forest from production, the state now requires at least 20,000 hectares of new hardwood plantations simply to meet baseline demand. “The reality is stark: the best time to plant a plantation for sawlogs was 50–60 years ago; the second‑best time is today,” he said.
“Yet instead of securing more supply, proposals to include the 16,000 hectares of plantations within the GKNP footprint — approximately 50% of all remaining hardwood plantations in NSW — in protected areas would remove a critical portion of the state’s hardwood supply.”
Many of the plantations now under scrutiny were established on cleared dairy farms in the 1960s and 70s and later purchased by the NSW Forestry Commission in 1975. After decades of growth, they are only now entering their first major harvest window, at a time when domestic timber supply remains tight.
“Hardwood accounts for roughly one‑third of the timber used in the average detached home,” Dobbyns said. “Restricting access to these plantations will push up construction costs, deepen the housing shortage and increase reliance on imported timber from countries with weaker environmental and labour standards.”
It comes after Higginson claimed that new maps exclude areas that contain the largest coastal koala population in NSW, key connectivity corridors and drinking‑water catchments. “The community watched industrial‑scale logging continue for two‑and‑a‑half years in the promised Great Koala National Park before a logging moratorium was announced, and we can now see that deals between Premier Minns and the logging interests have undermined their commitment to a world‑class National Park,” she said.
