Letter to the Editor: Koala park will bring economic boom

DEAR News Of The Area,

I am writing to you as a Bellingen Shire Councillor, former Mayor, Environmental Scientist and Geography Teacher who has been involved in the campaign for the Great Koala National Park (GKNP) for the last 10 years.

It’s been nearly two and a half years since the state election where the GKNP was promised to the people of NSW if Labor won.

Yet we continue to see the systematic destruction of the large tracts of the biodiverse, rich forests contained within the boundaries of the proposed GKNP.

The industrial logging of these precious forests provides very little benefit to the people of NSW and costs the taxpayer around 19 million dollars a year for it to continue.

We know the GKNP concept will bring an economic boom to this region and will help our endangered species have a better chance of survival.

In addition, these intact forests will protect us from the worsening impacts of climate charged fires, floods, droughts and storms.

The increase in weather extremes in Australia and around the globe demonstrates that we are now in a worsening climate heating phase and we need to change our relationship to our natural assets and the ecosystems services they provide.

The days of industrial logging of our diminishing forest estate need to stop and we need to listen to the global scientific consensus around how to manage our forests for the future.

I implore the Premier to implement the full 176,000ha assessment area of the GKNP and leave a legacy that will live well beyond his time leading the state of NSW.

Regards,
Dominic KING,
Kalang.