The NSW government must balance the interests of thousands of workers connected to the state’s hardwood supply chain as it forges ahead with establishing the Great Koala National Park. According to Penny Sharpe, the state’s powerful Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Heritage Minister, who spoke to ABC Mornings Sydney host Hamish Macdonald.
Minister Sharpe was responding to a question posed by the ABC host, who asked whether the NSW Labor government was beholden to timber unions that wanted to protect jobs. And whilst she disagrees with that assertion, Sharpe said “as a Labor government, we care about what happens to people, particularly those with changing industries…the creation of the Great Koala National Park will especially impact jobs in the North Coast. (So as a government) We need to ensure we look after those communities and the jobs that pass through there.”
Responding to the ABC host on Forestry Corporation of NSW’s “effectively, fiscally irrational logging,” Minister Sharpe said the future of NSW’s softwood and hardwood will be decided as part of a ‘Forestry Industry Action Plan’ process that will determine the state’s timber needs over the next 30 years. “That’s where all of the issues on forestry will be discussed with industry, communities and environmental groups.”
Sharpe’s comments come after Wood Central revealed in February that the NSW government will likely break from the hard left and rethink a push to establish a 176,000-hectare Koala Park amid concerns about building materials and the cost of living crisis. And while Wood Central understands a Great Koala National Park will be established—thus delivering on Chris Minn’s electoral commitment from the 2023 state election—the park is expected to be much smaller, balancing conserving key koala and glider habitats and sustaining a viable hardwood industry.
- For more information about the Great Koala Park, click here for Wood Central’s special feature.
