Current state regulations fail to protect koalas in Tweed Shire's hinterland and Councillors are seeking the State government's support to put those protections in place.

If it was private land it would be considered core koala habitat so why are the NSW government allowing Cherry Tree State Forest to be logged?

Tweed Shire Council is seeking to have extra controls granted by the State Government in relation to the controversial Koala SEPP to help ensure all koalas in Tweed receive appropriate protection from habitat damage, land clearing, and development.

The highly criticised NSW Koala SEPP (state environmental planning policy) that has been put forward by the NSW Liberal-National coalition does not protect Tweed Shire rural koala populations said Tweed Shire Mayor Chris Cherry (Independent) at last week’s council meeting.

The exclusion of rural and forestry zones from the new State Environmental Planning Policy (Koala Habitat Protection) 2021 is ‘a disaster for koalas’, says Dailan Pugh from North East Forest Alliance (NEFA).

Measures to protect koala habitat have been diluted by the NSW government following a National Party campaign backed mainly by developers fearing the impact of tree preservation on their profits.

Aslan Shand The changes that the National Party have demanded to the Koala State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP), that passed in the NSW Legislative Assembly...

There was a moment of hope when environmentalists were praising the NSW Berejiklian government for standing up to the bullying tactics of their National Party colleagues over protecting koalas. But it didn't last and the Liberal Party has again back-flipped, facilitating the koala's path to extinction by 2050.

While the National Party demands that no effective legislation is brought in to protect koalas and their habitat there is a significant risk that  both State and Commonwealth legal obligations will be contravened if post fire logging continues under existing agreements.