Push to turn NSW south coast into state's largest national park

Push to create 1.2-million-hectare Great Southern Forest across NSW South Coast Fri 19 Jun 2026 at 6:00am In short: The National Parks Association of NSW is calling for a Great Southern Forest National Park stretching from the Illawarra to the Victorian border. The proposal would see 824,000ha of existing national park combined with around 365,000ha of state forest and would be the single largest national park in the state. What's next? The proposal will be put to the NSW government. Almost 1.2 million hectares of southern NSW bushland from the Illawarra to the Victorian border could be merged into the state's largest national park under an ambitious new proposal. The National Parks Association NSW (NPA) will launch its pitch for a Great Southern Forest National Park today in the Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Gardens. Under the proposal, 365,000ha across 55 state forests and flora reserves would be linked with 824,000ha of existing National Parks and Wildlife-managed services into one connected national park. That would form a "green highway" for wildlife that would be 100km wide in places, protecting forests and vital water catchments. Ten thousand hectares of habitat for threatened ecological communities would also be included in the plan, including around three-quarters of the habitat for greater gliders and yellow-bellied gliders. Much of the area included was impacted in the devastating 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires and has only just regenerated. NPA Eurobodalla coordinator Joslyn van der Moolen said the time was right to start the conversation around an ambitious proposal. "This campaign has been going since the 1970s, over 50 years," she said. "All of the stars are aligning to protect our forests." Areas that would become national park under the pitch include North Brooman State Forest, the home of the giant spotted gum Big Spotty. It would also encompass Tallaganda and Mogo State Forests, which have been the subject of multiple investigations against the Forestry Corporation of NSW over the past few years. Inspired by Great Koala National Park The ambitious proposal was spurred forward by the announcement of the Great Koala National Park (GKNP) on the north coast by the state government in September last year. Environment Minister Penny Sharpe announced last month that legislation formally creating the park would be introduced to parliament later this year. Part of the delay between the announcement and the creation has been the NSW government's efforts to register the GKNP as a carbon project and therefore be able to receive carbon credits from the federal government. Modelling within the NPA's Great Southern Forest plan has suggested about 1.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year would not enter the atmosphere if the national park was created and the state forests were no longer logged. The report estimated as a result, the state government could receive a net profit of about $270 million over the next 15 years in carbon credits if the Great Southern Forest was successfully registered. "Protecting our state forests will meet our international contributions to address climate change," Ms van der Moolen said. "Whether it's through the carbon credit system or simply the fact that we no longer have our trees going up in smoke." Ending native forest logging leads to job losses The proposed ending of native forest logging would impact timber mills in Nowra and Narooma and the woodchip industry based in Eden, which dates back to the 1960s. Between 80 and 100 employees are estimated to be impacted and the NPA calls for government support for the impacted workers and the industry similar to the package announced for those impacted by the GKNP. The plan also notes the record high 65.5 million visitors to national parks last year and that the Great Southern Forest would bring increased tourism for the region. But Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MLC Mark Banasiak said the number of jobs impacted under the plan would most likely be higher. "There's a bit of an urban myth that there isn't a lot of jobs, but there is," he said. "There's a lot of secondary and tertiary employment that hangs of the native forestry industry. "So it's the mechanics and the mills, there's a lot more to it than just the people that harvest the timber." Mr Banasiak is the chair of a state parliament committee examining access restrictions to public land and waterways, which he said had heard evidence that funding limitations had impacted access to national parks. "It's absurd because we know that the government's already struggling to manage, financially, the national park estate," he said. "To propose another large park that would exceed the size of the Great Koala National Park, it's just not feasible." The launch of the proposal will be held today, with the proposal to be put to the NSW government.