One of Australia’s most important populations of healthy koalas would be protected by a new national park to be established in Sydney’s south-west if Labor wins the New South Wales election.
The party’s environment spokesperson, Penny Sharpe, will announce on Saturday that a Labor government would transfer publicly owned lands, between Glenfield and Appin, to the national parks service to establish a Georges River koala national park for the endangered species.
The commitment would make a koala park in south-west Sydney a reality within three years, rather than the 17 years proposed by the government under a major development policy for the region, known as the Cumberland Plain conservation plan (CPCP).
“South-west Sydney residents are passionate about making sure their children and grandchildren can still see local koalas thriving in the wild. A Georges River national park will make sure that happens,” Sharpe said.
“The Liberals and Nationals have promised a reserve in 17 years’ time – only a decade before koalas are on track to become extinct in NSW.
“Koalas can’t wait that long and that’s why Labor will take action to protect their habitat as fast as possible.”
It follows reporting by Guardian Australia which raised concerns that the Perrottet government was “double dipping” on past conservation commitments by using public lands in the area to meet environmental offset requirements for planned new housing estates.
Under the CPCP, which the government approved last year, the lands would be gradually protected to form a Georges River koala reserve by 2040.
Gary Dunnett, the executive officer of the National Parks Association of NSW, welcomed the announcement and said Campbelltown had one of the most important healthy koala populations in Australia.
“We’re absolutely delighted to know that the proposed Georges River koala park would come into reality in the short term and not be deferred years or decades as is currently proposed in the CPCP,” he said.
“We’re in an extinction crisis right now and we can’t continue to kick real action in conservation down the road.”
While the CPCP makes no commitment about the category of protection the lands would be given, Labor’s proposal would formally gazette them as national park.
Sharpe promised Labor would review the environmental offset arrangements proposed for that area within the CPCP but the announcement would not reverse planning decisions already made for new housing estates.
She said a Labor government would work with other landholders to “maximise the protection of wildlife corridors” and identify additional lands for the national park.
The party is also proposing to set up a koala centre to support volunteer wildlife carers in the area and establish infrastructure such as exclusion fencing on roadways and koala crossings.
Grahame Douglas is the association’s president and former NSW public servant who criticised the CPCP offsetting arrangements as a “double dip”.
“Whilst the shadow minister has not committed to not proceeding with the offsets, we welcome the opportunity to engage with her about the inappropriateness of offsets on those public lands,” he said.
The government has rejected Douglas’s assertion it had “double dipped” on earlier conservation requirements, noting no formal offset process existed at the time the land was acquired.
