Communities and koalas are set to be the biggest losers after the federal government gave Whithaven Coal’s Maules Creek project the go-ahead. 

Last week I found myself asking the question - Which is more precious: a koala colony or a new coal mine?

In NSW, the state government's Planning and Assessment Commission has given the go-ahead for the new Maules Creek Coal Mine.  In doing so it has approved the destruction of large tracts of valuable koala habitat in North West NSW for a massive open-cut coal mine proposal that would destroy 2,000 hectares, or around 2,800 football fields, of forest.

Greens Senator for NSW and animal welfare spokesperson Lee Rhiannon speaks at Senate doors about the Greens Too Precious to Lose campaign and threats to koalas in her homestate of NSW and other parts of the nation.

Australian Greens forests spokesperson Senator Lee Rhiannon will visit the Tanja State Forest tomorrow morning, where a population of koalas have recently been discovered. 

Senator Rhiannon will meet with locals and environmentalists to promote the Greens work that these native forests are too precious to lose.

"Koala habitat in NSW's South East, like that at Tanja, is under threat from native forest logging. While logging has been temporarily halted, the forest surrounding the local koala population is still targeted for woodchipping," Senator Rhiannon said.

The federal government needs to step up protection for vulnerable koalas along the NSW coastline and west of the Great Dividing Range to stem declining populations under threat from logging, mining and rampant urban development.

ABC’s 4 corners will tonight show that koala populations are in the serious trouble in NSW despite the federal government moving in April to list koalas as a vulnerable species, following a Greens-initiated Senate Inquiry.

Media release – 3 July 2012

The federal government must tighten koala protection laws to ensure koalas are not being placed at risk by logging in Boambee Forest on the NSW coast, said Greens Senator and forest spokesperson Lee Rhiannon.

Forestry research organisation Markets for Change today released a report that tracks timber harvested by Forests NSW from Boambee State Forest to a Boral saw mill in Kooklhan and ultimately to the timber used in Harvey Norman’s ‘Naturally Australian’ flooring range.

The NSW Environment Minister Robyn Parker's comments that there can be a 'balance' between native forest logging in South East NSW and saving koalas misses the point of protecting biodiversity and highlights concerns over the newly awarded Biodiversity Fund project to protect koala habitat in the NSW South East forests, says Greens Senator for NSW and forests spokesperson Lee Rhiannon.