The original ideas leading to this proposal were formulated in 2010. Ecologists were alarmed by declining koala populations so they commissioned a survey. Former
national parks officer Ashley Love has been credited by the government and conservation groups with developing early iterations of the proposal. When
Luke Foley was shadow environment minister in 2014, he came across this proposal and was intrigued by it so he developed this policy when he subsequently became Labor leader in
2015. Foley was inspired by the
giant panda reserves in
China. They were not elected to government so the plan did not commence. The plan was proposed again in 2019 during
that year's state election campaign by the Labor Party under then leader
Michael Daley, this plan did not progress as the party were not elected to government. The current iteration of the Great Koala National Park was proposed again by the
New South Wales Labor Party during the
2023 state election campaign in addition to a koala summit that would formulate a strategy to revitalise the species. The Labor Party was elected to government with
Chris Minns as premier and
Penny Sharpe as environment minister so planning for the new national park commenced. The decision to enact this proposal was accelerated due to
Essential Energy phasing out the use of wood in its power pole infrastructure.
Logging in the proposed area has ceased from 8 September following the government's announcement of the park's proposed boundaries. The state government is also considering leveraging the powers of the federal government to utilise their
carbon credits scheme for this project. Legislation will be required for the formalisation of its boundaries. ==Outcomes==