Support NEFA's Work
The North East Forest Alliance is a volunteer organisation, none of us get paid. We have been working since 1989 to protect rainforest, oldgrowth forest, wilderness and threatened species in north-east NSW, Australia. Donations we receive go directly to cover costs, such as employing experts to undertake surveys for threatened species and legal challenges. Our goal is to stop the logging of public native forests. Recently we have been focusing on legal action to create change for the multitude of increasingly threatened species. It is clear the State and Commonwealth ALP Governments will not undertake needed reform unless forced to.
Use the DONATE button if you can help NEFA continue our work undertaking surveys, pursuing State and Federal governments through the courts, and achieving meaningful protection for threatened species.
WE DID IT
ON 7 SEPTEMBER 2025 THE NSW GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCED THEY ARE GOING TO CREATE THE FULL GREAT KOALA NATIONAL PARK, AN HISTORIC CONSERVATION WIN AFTER A 10 YEAR CONCERTED COMMUNITY CAMPAIGN (SEE BELOW, and our media release).
THEN WE DID IT AGAIN
ON 15 SEPTEMBER 2025, AFTER A 6 YEAR COMMUNITY CAMPAIGN, THE INDEPENDENT PLANNING COMMISSION ANNOUNCED THEY HAVE REFUSED VERDANT EARTH'S PROPOSAL TO RESTART THE CLOSED COAL-FIRED REDBANK POWER STATION USING TREES OBTAINED FROM CLEARING WELL OVER 20,000 HA A YEAR TO SPEW 1.3 MILLION TONNES OF CO2 INTO THE ATMOSPHERE (see media release, NEFA Submission to the IPC on Redbank Power Station).
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NEFA LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN FOR RICHMOND RIVER KOALA PARKS
NEFA have started a campaign for 56,200 hectares of public native forests in the southern Richmond River valley and on Richmond Range (south of the Bruxner Highway) to be created as the Richmond River Koala Parks. This is largest stronghold of koalas in the Richmond catchment, a genetically different population from that found in the Great Koala National Park (see below). Protecting these forests will also help over 130 other threatened species and improve the health of the Richmond River.
For a summary of the proposal see Richmond River Koala Parks
To join the campaign contact [email protected]
For further information visit the website
NOW IS YOUR CHANCE TO CONVINCE THE NSW GOVERNMENT TO
STOP LOGGING PUBLIC NATIVE FORESTS
The NSW Government has established an Independent Forestry Panel (IFP) to make recommendations on the future of forestry sometime this year. This is the only chance we will have in this term of the Minns Government to get a commitment to end logging of public native forests. Public submissions have now closed, with over 1,600 submissions, most calling for an end to public native forest logging. The IFP have submitted their summary of submissions and presentations to a government steering committee who will consider this along with other inputs, it will then be up to the Government to make a decision, so it is important that we take the opportunity to make representations to the Premier and key ministers, and it is also worth lobbying your local member.
So please take the time to add your voice to ours. A quick email will do. See: Why logging of public native forests needs to stop.
Also see: NEFA Submission to the Independent Forestry Panel.
THE GREAT KOALA NATIONAL PARK
In 2015 the NSW ALP committed to creating the Great Koala National Park, including 176,000 ha of State forests. After the Minns Government was elected in 2023 they allowed logging to continue while they assessed the environmental and economic values. Their assessment was completed in December 2024 and ever since the Government had been saying the park would be created soon, while the logging continued. Finally in September 2025 the government announced they will create the full park - once they sort out whether they can get carbon credits. Meanwhile a moratorium on logging has been implemented.
An assessment of logging up until December 2024 by NEFA ‘Accelerating Logging Within the Great Koala National Park’ identified the net areas of native forest in the Great Koala National Park logged as:
- 20,630 ha logged in 98 months since ALP’s 2015 commitment to protect the Great Koala National Park up until the March 2023 election
- 7,185 ha logged in 21 months since the election of the Minns Government in 2023 until December 2024
See NEFA's briefing note Why we need a Great Koala National Park . See NEFA's more detailed November 2024 presentation to the NSW Government here.
In an effort to scare the government, the loggers are claiming grossly inflated impacts if the park is declared. In 2022/23 the Forestry Corporation lost $3.4 million logging koala's homes in the park, all to support some 180 jobs, yet the loggers are claiming 2,200 jobs are at stake and demanding $1,356 million over 5years. See Industry's Structural Adjustment Claims Unsupported.
In response to unfounded claims by the Australian Workers Union that creation of the park would cost 9000 jobs, NEFA undertook a detailed assessment, identifying that the full park could result in the loss of 118-218 jobs. See The Impact of the Great Koala National Park on Logging Industry Employment in North East NSW.
Briefing Note: Save Koalas' Homes Briefing Note: Save Gliders' Homes
If you want to make your views known:
Contact Premier Chris Minns through his website: www.nsw.gov.au/nsw-government/premier-of-nsw/contact-premier
Environment Minister Penny Sharpe: [email protected]
Forestry Minister Tara Moriarty: [email protected]
For detailed information of the travesty of Kola conservation in NSW see: NEFA's submission to NSW Koala Strategy
A victim of the 2019/20 wildfires, they are now logging the homes of the survivors
We have a hard fight ahead of us to stop logging of public native forests, though we now have hope that with your help we can get there.
Here are some resources you can use:
We have edited the fantastic, and sadly still relevant Endangered Species Roadshow film - On the Brink, with cameos from world-renowned scientists David Attenborough, David Suzuki and David Bellamy and voice overs by Jack Thompson and Olivia Newton-John. You can watch it here.
Award-winning filmmaker David Bradbury has made this moving film, Gondwana, Going, Going...Gone? Featuring clips and interviews from some of the recent forest actions from across our region. You can watch it here.
Politicians and industry often make extraordinary claims about the significance and impact of logging. We have prepared responses to Frequently Asked Questions you can read here.
