Bold plan to create the biggest national park in NSW gets local Greens backing

The Illawarra Greens have thrown their support behind a bold campaign to create the biggest national park in the state’s history.

Plans for the Great Southern Forest National Park – taking in a vast area from Sydney’s south to the Victorian border, including the Illawarra, South Coast and Southern Highlands – were first flagged in 2024. Supporters are hoping 2026 will be the year of delivery.

What is proposed is the inclusion of hundreds of thousands of hectares of state forests, many vulnerable to logging, into the national park system. If successful, it would bring the total proposed national park area to more than one million hectares.

Wollongong Greens councillor Kit Docker believes the proposal for a Great Southern Forest National Park "sets out a real pathway to truly protect our native forests from Wollongong to the Victorian border.

“Our forests, whether around Wollongong’s own escarpment and coastal woodlands, or across NSW are living ecosystems critical to clean air, water, wildlife corridors and our climate.

“Despite repeated commitments, the government’s own figures show a sharp increase in land clearing under the NSW Labor Government, with clearing rising by 40 per cent from the previous year in their first year of government alone.”

The Greens are campaigning for support for the new “super national park” at all levels of government.

Sue Higginson MLC, the NSW Greens Environment spokesperson, said: “It’s past time that native forest logging ended in NSW. Our precious forests need to be protected and regenerated.

“Stitching together the unfinished Great Southern Forests is just part of the fantastic project that is protecting and regenerating all native forests in NSW and the Greens are putting together our plan to fund it on the table.”

Under that plan, the Greens say the NSW Government will be able to access $140 million of Commonwealth funding per year for 20 years, contingent on an end to all native forest logging in the state. They say the funding will go directly to ecological restoration and ensuring a just transition for communities and workers.

Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi says: “Logging native forests is not just unsustainable, it’s untenable. The NSW South Coast forests and communities have been through devastating bushfires, and logging continues to destroy the habitat of endangered species.”

Working together with the Greens, the National Parks Association (NPA) NSW describes the Great Southern National Park as “a bold step towards safeguarding one of southeastern Australia’s most ecologically valuable landscapes”.

NPA's conservation project officer, Kate Carroll, said time is of the essence.

“The areas along the coast are under mounting development pressure and need to be preserved," Kate said.

“For too long the public forests of the southeast have been decimated by the woodchip industry and unsustainable forest activities."

She said the creation of a new, bigger national park would serve not only to protect the forests, but also gliders, owls, potoroos, and other species that call these forests home.

How you can help enhance our parks

Meanwhile, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) is inviting applications from the community across the state, including the South Coast, to join eight Regional Advisory Committees, to help shape the future management of some of the state's iconic national parks and reserves.

NPWS Director Policy and Engagement, Claire Allen, said: “We want our national parks to reflect the community they belong to … Regional Advisory Committees help shape how all parks, including Blue Mountains, Royal and Kosciuszko, are protected and enjoyed, ensuring local voices inform park management.

“If you have a connection and strategic interest in your local national parks and want to make a difference, we encourage you to apply.”

Applications close next Wednesday, 25 February and can be made online.