The Great Koala National Park
Busting Myths
The Great Koala National Park is a once-in-a-generation chance to save koalas from extinction. It is also a major opportunity for local economies and tourism and ultimately a smart investment in climate, biodiversity, and community wellbeing for NSW.
Myth: The park will destroy forestry jobs.
FACT: Research has shown the park could create 9,800 tourism-related jobs in park management, tourism, hospitality, and cultural heritage. Nature-based tourism already brings over $1.5 billion to the Mid North Coast—the park builds on this strength.
Myth: Koala populations are healthy.
FACT: Koalas are listed as Endangered in NSW. Koalas need mature eucalypt forests with dense canopies to survive. Industrial logging removes the old trees koalas depend on for food and shelter. Real sustainability means protecting, not exploiting, these areas. On the Mid North Coast, their home range is disappearing due to logging and clearing. The GKNP protects some of the last large strongholds of koala populations in the state—without it, their survival is in question.
Myth: The park proposal includes private land.
FACT: The GKNP is proposed entirely on publicly owned land—mostly State Forests. The transition is about changing ‘public’ management, not changing ownership.
Myth: The Great Koala National Park will lock everyone out.
FACT: The park will be open to the public for bushwalking, camping, mountain biking, birdwatching, and more. What it will restrict is destructive industrial logging—not everyday enjoyment of nature.
Myth: National parks are a fire risk.
FACT: National parks are managed for fire like any other land—through planned burns, fire trails, and response strategies. Forests with less logging are more resilient to extreme fire as logging creates flammable debris and opens up the canopy, increasing fire intensity and therefore risk.