Koala populations are under siege in many parts of NSW, including the far north coast of NSW. Credit:Cole Bennetts "While the property has some conservation values, it is not seen as a priority for purchase," one assessment found. One reason was the land was "under low threat" because further deforestation was not permitted. "It would also not be cost effective for the National Parks and Wildlife service to manage due to its condition, location and boundary configuration," it said. A site inspection last May of the main block confirmed the low priority rating. "This is particularly due to the ongoing management costs and extreme risks associated with fire and access," an OEH staffer wrote.

The two plots of land purchased for about $1 million nears Pottsville. (Shown with red outline.) Despite the concerns, OEH later told Tweed Shire Council it would proceed with the purchase. 'Hanging on' Ashley Love, a spokesman for the North Coast Environment Council, said the spending appeared aimed at shoring up support for National MPs in marginal electorates in the region. Mr Love is also concerned the government will squander the $10 million koala fund - meant to protect "vital" habitat - and a separate $240 million biodiversity conservation trust to protect land with high conservation values.

"It was a bad precedent at the very beginning of when this government's going to spend a lot of money on private land," he said. OEH didn't explain why its internal advice was ignored.



"The acquisition and land swap will create a strategic connection within a 14-kilometre corridor of vegetated land from Casuarina Beach in the north to Black Rocks in the South," an OEH spokesman said. "It supports the local community to protect the seriously threatened Tweed koalas." Katie Milne, Tweed mayor, defended the outlay, saying "every block of land is significant". The Tweed koalas "are hanging on by the skin of their teeth", Ms Milne, a Greens councillor, said. "We're on a desperate last stakes bid to bring this population back to viability". Poll support

A ReachTEL of 700 residents in the state seat of Lismore found 68.3 per cent of participants in Lismore town and 71.9 per cent in Ballina support the creation of national parks to protect koalas from logging and land clearing. "This polling shows that were the government to create them, they would be broadly welcomed," Alix Goodwin, chief executive of the NSW National Parks Association, said. "We expect that the forthcoming Whole of Government Koala Strategy will reflect the wishes of the community and include new protected areas." Localised threats The new biodiversity conservation act, which is widely viewed as easing controls on land-clearing, has also stripped the NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee of its ability to highlight localised threats to species.

The independent NSW Scientific Committee made a preliminary finding in August that the koala population near Port Stephens was endangered as it is '"facing a very high risk of extinction in NSW in the near future." However, the new conservation regulations passed later that month precluded a local population of a species from having a separate rating if it already listed. Koalas are deemed "vulnerable" in NSW. Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton said the overall status of koalas had not changed.



"The new Act is now consistent with the Commonwealth classification, protection and assessment and this standard is an international best practice," she said. "The NSW government is committed to first stabilising and then growing our koala population. Work continues on the whole-of-government koala strategy." 'Broken the system'

Penny Sharpe, Labor's environment spokeswoman, said "the extinction of koalas in NSW comes closer every day that Gabrielle Upton is the Minister for the Environment". "In the Tweed this Minister ignores her department's advice and allows precious taxpayer dollars to be used for purchase of land of low quality koala habitat," Ms Sharpe said. "Meanwhile in Port Stephens, the government sells high quality koala habitat to a developer." Fairfax Media sought comment from Ms Upton. Mehreen Faruqi, the Greens environment spokeswoman, said the government had "deliberately broken the system of protections for endangered animals and hamstrung the NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee". "The Liberals and Nationals are deliberately making it harder to list individual threatened species as endangered populations so people won't be able to keep track of the trail of destruction," Dr Faruqi said.