will become the state’s largest national park at 476,000 hectares<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"view](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6465402efad9f31d0952a26c013dab5e.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
One of Pentarch Forestry’s mills at its Herons Creek site will close. (ABC Mid North Coast: Sophia McCaughan)<\/p>\n
The cuts come as Pentarch announced it would slash 25 jobs and close one of its mills at Herons Creek, south-west of Port Macquarie.<\/p>\n
Director Steven Dadd said his operation had been relying on stockpiles, which had now run out.<\/p>\n
“We haven’t had any wood supply coming in from Forest Corporation since last July, when the wood supply stopped,” he said.<\/p>\n
Alternative employment<\/p>\n
A NSW government spokesperson said in a statement that it was working to move affected Forestry Corporation staff to suitable roles in the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).<\/p>\n
It said creation of the GKNP would add 100 additional NPWS roles.<\/p>\n
“Transition arrangements are being developed and there is a generous support package for workers who do not move into a role with FCNSW or NPWS,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
The government did not respond to concerns raised about the future of the timber industry.<\/p>\n
Legislation to gazette the Great Koala National Park by 2028 has not yet been introduced to state parliament.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/91e762ade574198bfe7e671f3762a30d.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
The state government says the park will protect old growth forest and important water catchments. (Supplied: NSW Government)<\/p>\n
University of the Sunshine Coast Adjunct Professor and former Parks Victoria chief executive Bill Jackson said transitioning away from native logging has had mixed success across the country.<\/p>\n
“The impact on regional and rural economies [in places like Victoria] hasn’t always been great,” he said.<\/p>\n
“People, in some cases, haven’t been able to find full-time employment or they’ve had to move their families to another location.”![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/98257dd50deb3b6a05a4952207eefc82.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
The NSW Nationals say the Great Koala National Park is harming business owners like Kristy and Matt Parker (right). (ABC Coffs Coast: Samuel O’Brien)<\/p>\n
Co-owner of M&M Timbers at Bostobrick, near Dorrigo, Kristy Parker said the industry needed to see more certainty from the government.<\/p>\n
“We’re trying to find a way forward, which is particularly difficult when we don’t know what’s going to happen after 2028,” Ms Parker said.<\/p>\n
“I’m all for a restructure when a business needs restructuring, however, you need to get the right people in the right jobs.”<\/p>\n
![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/faa3cbe50d5121d80bcdc0fa3543962e.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
The transition away from native logging in other states has been met with strong opposition. (ABC Landline: Tim Lee)<\/p>\n
Community and Public Sector Union NSW branch assistant secretary Troy Wright said while consultation about the GKNP had been drawn out, a firm decision was welcomed.<\/p>\n
“We now want to get on with the job in negotiating with both Forestry Corporation and government generally about finding roles for those people … who would no longer be required,” he said.<\/p>\n
“They have skill sets that should be utilised by government and hopefully we can manage to negotiate to get them successfully redeployed into other agencies.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Concerns about the sustainability of the New South Wales timber industry are growing, with the state’s Forestry Corporation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[30653,33348,33347,33349,33350,247],"class_list":["post-42587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sydney","tag-forestry","tag-forestry-corporation-nsw","tag-great-koala-national-park","tag-layoffs","tag-pentarch-forestry","tag-sydney"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Looking](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9da50ab658f6224ee6414095f5cac13e.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n