NSW Government Response:
The budget spend for the Great Koala National Park is $80 million – the capital expenditure is $28.5 million, and the other funding will be allocated to the assessment process previously outlined, land management, as well as staff to manage and maintain the park.The NSW Government has only committed $1.5 million in this year's budget for the Great Koala National Park and $28.5 million out to 2027. This is a far cry from the pre-election commitment from the Minister for the Environment that Labor would spend $80 million to establish a Great Koala National park on the Mid-North Coast.
Greens MP and spokesperson for the environment Sue Higginson said "The Government committed to an $80 million investment to create a Great Koala National Park but the 2023 budget has revealed that only $28.5 million will be spent over the next 4 years to establish this new National Park.
"This is unbelievable we are still seeing logging operations in forests that are critical koala habitat within the area for the Great Koala National Park and now we see the Government is not even commitming the money it promised,"
"This is an absolute betrayal of their election commitment and their promise to the people of NSW. The $80 million investment that Labor promised for the great koala national park has been broken apart with more than $50 million going towards the Georges River National Park, Appin Road upgrades and habitat corridors in Woronora Heights,"
"The upgrade of the koala crossing at Appin Road and the Georges River Koala Park have both received almost as much funding at $22.5 million and $22.1 million respectively. These are both important projects but this is not what the Government promised when they committed $80 million to the establishment of a Great Koala National Park,"
"Protecting koalas across NSW is vital but the Government should be implementing those measures separately from their promise to spend $80 million to establish the Great Koala National Park."
"If there is more money hiding in this budget for the Great Koala National Park than the $28.5 million capital expenditure then the Government should tell us where it will be spent and what the timeline is," Ms Higginson said.
