Timber Harvesting Paused as Koala Park Outline Revealed

This picture taken on April 6, 2024, shows a native Australian koala being held by a keeper during a show for tourists at Hartley's Crocodile Adventure Park located north of the Queensland city of Cairns in Australia. David Gray/AFP via Getty Images

A long-awaited plan to protect koala habitats is a step closer with the outline of proposed boundaries to reserve hundreds of thousands of hectares for wildlife, in a move critics warn will cripple the local timber industry.

The NSW government on Sunday revealed the proposed outlines of the Great Koala National Park, an election promise.